Energy Columns in PhilStar

Energy issues from the US elections, The Freeman Cebu forum ENERGY, INFRA AND ECONOMICS - Bienvenido Oplas Jr. - The Philippine Star  November 7, 2024 | 12:00am https://www.philstar.com/business/2024/11/07/2398138/energy-issues-us-elections-freeman-cebu-forum   Cebu City – Central Visayas is the third-largest or richest region in the Philippines after Metro Manila. In 2023, its regional domestic product was P1.58 trillion, following CALABARZON’s P3.44 trillion and Central Luzon’s P2.65 trillion. Metro Manila had P7.57 trillion out of a total Philippines GDP of P24.32 trillion.   Cebu City is the heart and commercial and financial center of Central Visayas. I’m here to attend The Freeman’s “Powering Cebu” energy forum held at Waterfront Hotel & Casino in Cebu City. The Freeman is a leading regional newspaper and is part of the The STAR group.   This piece will cover four energy topics, so let’s go straight to the numbers.   US elections and energy implication...

Nuclear energy to help propel Philippines industrialization   ENERGY, INFRA AND ECONOMICS - Bienvenido Oplas Jr. - The Philippine Star  October 24, 2024 | 12:00am https://www.philstar.com/business/2024/10/24/2394739/nuclear-energy-help-propel-philippines-industrialization   The Philippines has total power generation of 26.6 terawatt-hours (TWH) or 26,600 gigawatt-hours in 1993, 52.9 TWH in 2003, 75.3 TWH in 2013, and 119 TWH in 2023. The Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) has a capacity of 620 megawatts (MW) and if it was allowed to operate in 1985 could have generated about 4.6 TWH a year of electricity.   Several countries have produced at least 15 TWH from nuclear power alone decades ago: UK in 1965, US in 1970, Canada in 1973, Russia in 1974, France and Germany in 1975, Sweden in 1976, Switzerland in 1981, Belgium and Finland in 1982, Spain in 1984.   Among Asians, Japan in 1974, Taiwan in 1983, South Korea in 1985, China and India in 2000, Pakistan in 2021, ...

Power stability, WESM and cheap electricity   ENERGY, INFRA AND ECONOMICS - Bienvenido Oplas Jr. - The Philippine Star  October 3, 2024 | 12:00am https://www.philstar.com/business/2024/10/03/2389657/power-stability-wesm-and-cheap-electricity   Three of several important energy development in the country recently are related to our energy security, distribution continuity, and power stability. One, the House of Representatives passing on second reading of House Bill 10926 that seeks to extend the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) franchise for another 25 years. Two, another successful competitive selection process (CSP) for 400 MW baseload need by Meralco which GN Power Dinginin (GNPD) leads with a low price of P7.6816/kwh. And three, low prices at the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) of only P3.88/kwh for October billing.   Rep. Joey Salceda, a key sponsor of HB 10926, said in his sponsorship speech that Meralco has fairly complied with all the rules on CSP, low ...

Energy security, consumer choice and the ERC ENERGY, INFRA AND ECONOMICS  Bienvenido Oplas Jr. - The Philippine Star  September 12, 2024 | 12:00am https://www.philstar.com/business/2024/09/12/2384521/energy-security-consumer-choice-and-erc   Energy and power security means ample supply of electricity with no blackout, there is consistent expansion of power supply to meet rising demand yearly. Choice is the main interest of consumers, a product or service can be expensive but if it gives the consumers satisfaction then it is worth the money. And the main purpose of a regulator like the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) is to protect consumers and ensure they have more choices.   With these brief definitions, we now discuss three important recent development in the Philippines power sector.   Cheap electricity via CSP   The Competitive selection process (CSP) by private distribution utilities (DUs) like Meralco and electric cooperatives is among the importan...

The Philippines' nuclear trade mission to Canada By Bienvenido Oplas Jr.  10 March 2024 https://www.pressreader.com/philippines/the-philippine-star/20240310/282003267391424   Toronto – I am one of the participants in the Philippines “Nuclear Trade Mission to Canada” organized by the government of Canada through their embassy in Manila and with the support from the Philippine Embassy in Ottawa and Philippine Consulate in Toronto. The Philippine delegation was headed by Energy UnderSecretary Sharon Garin and Science UnderSecretary Leah Buendia. Other participants were from other agencies, domestic energy players and some are from the media, myself included. The local media joined only the Toronto leg from March 6-8. My main interest is how expansion in electricity production including nuclear power generation would affect economic performance of countries as measured by their GDP growth. So I checked the excel files from the Energy Institute’s Statistical Review of World Energy ...