Energy Columns in PhilStar

From energy regulation to deregulation (Part 3)   ENERGY, INFRA AND ECONOMICS - Bienvenido Oplas Jr. - The Philippine Star  March 20, 2025 | 12:00am https://www.philstar.com/business/2025/03/20/2429601/energy-regulation-deregulation-part-3   This is a continuation of the previous articles this year in this column , “From energy regulation to deregulation” Part 1 (Jan. 25) and Part 2 (Feb. 6). In Part 1, the three regulations I discussed were price control via the secondary price cap in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market, high reliability standards and fines, and price regulation after competitive selection process (CSP) has been done.   In Part 2 I discussed a dangerous regulation of “benchmarking rates” not only for transmission and distribution but also for procurement of necessary power supply for distribution utilities (DUs) and ancillary services (AS), explained five reasons why the policy is wrong.   In Part 3 I will tackle prolonged regulation by the E...

Meralco finance and GDP congruence, energy regulation incongruence   ENERGY, INFRA AND ECONOMICS - Bienvenido Oplas Jr. - The Philippine Star  February 27, 2025 | 12:00am https://www.philstar.com/business/2025/02/27/2424408/meralco-finance-and-gdp-congruence-energy-regulation-incongruence   Last Monday, Feb. 24 , I attended the 2024 Meralco Financials Operating Results: Media Briefing held at Grand Hyatt in BGC, Taguig City. Top officers of the company were there led by chairman and CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan or MVP, EVP and COO Ronnie Aperocho, SVP and chief finance officer Betty Siy-Yap, SVP and chief revenue officer Ferdinand Geluz, SVP and head of Regulatory Management Office Jose Ronald Valles, FVP and head of Networks Froilan Savet, Meralco Power Gen (MGen) president and CEO Emmanuel Rubio, others. Moderator was the always-smiling communications expert Joe Zaldariaga, the company’s VP and head of Corporate Communications.   STAR energy reporter Brix Lelis was als...

From energy regulation to deregulation, Part 2   ENERGY, INFRA AND ECONOMICS - Bienvenido Oplas Jr. - The Philippine Star  February 6, 2025 | 12:00am https://www.philstar.com/business/2025/02/06/2419448/energy-regulation-deregulation-part-2   In 2000 or one year before the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 (EPIRA, RA 9136), the primary energy consumption (PEC, for transportation, cooking, electricity, etc.) of these four ASEAN countries in exajoules (EJ) were as follows: Indonesia 4.19, Malaysia 2.20, Philippines 1.11, Vietnam 0.77. One EJ is equivalent to 277.78 terawatt-hours of electricity.   In 2010 or after a decade, their respective PEC in EJ were: 6.26, 3.36, 1.23, 1.94. Vietnam overtook the Philippines in 2004. And in 2023, their respective PEC in EJ were: 10.11, 4.81, 2.19, 4.89.   The percentage increase from 2000 to 2023 were as follows: Indonesia 141.3 percent, Malaysia 118.5 percent, Philippines 98 percent, Vietnam 534.5 percent.   The...

From energy regulation to deregulation, Part 1   ENERGY, INFRA AND ECONOMICS - Bienvenido Oplas Jr. - The Philippine Star  January 30, 2025 | 12:00am https://www.philstar.com/business/2025/01/30/2417774/energy-regulation-deregulation-part-1   The Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA, RA 9136) was signed on June 8, 2001, and will turn 24 in five months. I will compare electricity production from 2001 onward in the three largest ASEAN countries by population—as of 2024, Indonesia has 283 million, the Philippines has 116 million and Vietnam has 101 million.   The power generation in terawatt-hours (TWH) for Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam was as follows: 101.7, 47.0, and 30.6 TWH in 2001; and 133.1, 56.8 and 57.9 in 2006. Vietnam overtook the Philippines in 2006. In 2011, the figures were 183.4, 69.2 and 101.5 and in 2023, 350.6, 119 and 276.4 TWH.   The percentage increase from 2001 to 2023 was: Vietnam 803 percent, Indonesia 245 percent and the Philip...

Toward more gas power development in the Phl   ENERGY, INFRA AND ECONOMICS - Bienvenido Oplas Jr. - The Philippine Star  January 9, 2025 | 12:00am https://www.philstar.com/business/2025/01/09/2412785/toward-more-gas-power-development-phl   The fastest-growing major economies in the world – those in the top 50 largest GDP size – are mostly Asians. For instance, the average GDP growth from 2015-2023 were as follows: Vietnam, six percent; China and India, 5.8 percent; Turkey, five percent; Philippines, 4.7 percent; Egypt, 4.6 percent; Indonesia, 4.1 percent; Malaysia, 3.9 percent and Poland, 3.7 percent.   One thing I notice about these countries is that they are mostly small users of natural gas. Their gas/total generation ratio in 2023 were as follows: Vietnam, 9.5 percent; China, 3.1 percent; India, 2.7 percent; Indonesia, 17.4 percent; Philippines, 14.4 percent; Turkey, 21.2 percent and Poland, 9.8 percent. They are high coal users.   Compare that with these co...

Top 10 energy news of 2024 ENERGY, INFRA AND ECONOMICS - Bienvenido Oplas Jr. - The Philippine Star December 27, 2024 | 12:00am https://www.philstar.com/business/2024/12/27/2410377/top-10-energy-news-2024   Here is my list of the most significant power and energy stories for 2024. The first five are global and the next five are specific to the Philippines.   1. World coal consumption continues to rise.   Despite the Paris Agreement in 2015 and prolonged global anti-coal campaigns, world coal consumption remains on an upward trend. According to the Statistical Review of World Energy released by the Energy Institute in June 2024, global coal consumption increased from 113.4 exajoules (EJ) in 2003 to 157.2 EJ in 2015 and further to 164 EJ in 2023. (Note: 1 EJ = 277.78 TWh of electricity)   2. Same trend of rising global consumption of oil and gas.   Oil consumption grew from 160.5 EJ in 2003 to 183.5 EJ in 2015 to 196.4 EJ in 2023. In terms of million barrels per d...

Gas power in Asia and Pacific Light   ENERGY, INFRA AND ECONOMICS - Bienvenido Oplas Jr. - The Philippine Star  December 12, 2024 | 12:00am (Part 2 of 2) https://www.philstar.com/business/2024/12/12/2406668/gas-power-asia-and-pacific-light   In Part 1 of this topic last Nov. 28, I discussed the countries with the highest natural gas power generation/total power generation ratio. The top three are Singapore, Iran and Egypt.   Here I will discuss the proven natural gas reserves in trillion cubic feet (TCF) as of end-2020, and the reserves/production (R/P) ratio in years. The R/P ratio means the number of years that the reserves will be depleted if current production (for domestic use and exports) will continue unchanged.   Proven natural gas reserves and R/P ratio   In Middle-East Asia, the proven gas reserves in 2020 and R/P ratio respectively are as follows: Iran 1,134 TCF and 128 years, Qatar 871 TCF and 144 years, Saudi Arabia 213 TCF and 54 years, United...

Gas power in Asia and Pacific Light (Part 1 of 2) ENERGY, INFRA AND ECONOMICS - Bienvenido Oplas Jr. - The Philippine Star  November 28, 2024 | 12:00am https://www.philstar.com/business/2024/11/28/2403391/gas-power-asia-and-pacific-light-part-1-2   SINGAPORE – It’s the city of bright lights, fast and efficient trains underground, the regional headquarter of many big multinationals from the West and the host of one of Formula 1’s famous races held at night because it can afford to brighten the road tracks as if it is daytime.   Singapore is the richest Asian country in terms of per capita income. In 2023, Singapore has a per capita GDP at current prices of $84,734, fifth highest in the world behind Luxembourg, Ireland, Switzerland and Norway. But at per capita GDP at purchasing power parity (PPP) values, Singapore is the second highest at $127,544 just behind Luxembourg’s $133,973.   The per capita GDP at PPP values of other East Asians in 2023 were: Taiwan $67,044, H...

The Freeman energy forum; avoiding carbon tax ENERGY, INFRA AND ECONOMICS - Bienvenido Oplas Jr. - The Philippine Star  November 14, 2024 | 12:00am https://www.philstar.com/business/2024/11/14/2399887/freeman-energy-forum-avoiding-carbon-tax   As mentioned in this column last week, I attended The Freeman energy forum on the theme, “Powering Cebu,” at Waterfront Hotel in Cebu IT Park. The Freeman is a leading regional newspaper in Cebu and Central Visayas, and is part of the Philippine STAR Media Group.   The opening message was given by Miguel G. Belmonte, president and CEO of the Philippine STAR Media Group. He emphasized the economic dynamism of Cebu and the region, the fast demand in power and the challenge of significantly expanding energy infrastructure.   Department of Energy Assistant Secretary Mario Marasigan discussed the lineup of big wind power, onshore and offshore that are projected to provide big power supply into the future.   Niel Martin Modina, ...