AN energy think tank on Wednesday deplored the country’s lack of energy resilience due to its heavy reliance on coal.
The Center for Energy Research and Policy (CERP), at a media launch in Quezon City presented its study entitled “Advancing Energy Security in the Philippines.
The research paper showed that 59.57 percent of the country’s power generation capacity are sourced “almost exclusively” from Indonesia.
“We depend too much on coal to generate electricity. What will happen to us if Indonesia’s coal supply gets depleted?” CERP convenor Noel Baga remarked.
Apart from the unaffordable prices of power, he said “a significant portion of the population in the Philippines still lacks access to electricity.”
“Nine million or eight percent of the total population live in darkness,” he said.
He said CERP, composed of economists, professors, scientists and the academe, would “comprehensively dissect the challenges facing the Philippine energy landscape, recognizing their far-reaching implications on economic stability, social welfare and environmental sustainability.”
He said CERP is pushing for more renewable energy investments to lower the cost of power.
He also said the group will come up with a position paper on the disadvantages and advantages of the revival of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant.
CERP would continue to conduct scientifically-backed researches, and foster partnership with policy-makers and stakeholders, according to Baga.