"Baguio City News"Cordillera Has 1,060 Megawatts Renewable Energy

The Cordillera has more than 1,060 megawatts of renewable energy which are now on their pre-development stages and will be connected to the Luzon grid within three to five right in time to help mitigate the occurrence of power outages that will derail the country's economic gains by then.

Efren Balawing, regional director of the Department of Energy's Luzon field office, said the agency has already issued 37 service contracts for hydro power with a total combined output of around 800 megawatts and 5 service contracts for geothermal power with a total capacity of 260 megawatts.

"The government is inclined to facilitate the development of available renewable energy sources in the Cordillera pursuant to the desire of the Regional Development Council for the region to become a sustainable source of renewable energy that can contribute in reducing the impact of expected prolonged power outages by the year 2017," Balawing told Manila Standard, adding that based on the records from the energy department, the Cordillera remains to be a prime source of renewable energy, particularly hydro and geothermal power.

According to him, it will take three years for interested investors on renewable energy to undertake the pre-development stage and another two years to pursue the project, thus, the prospective hydro and geothermal power plants will be operational by 2016 and will be connected to the Luzon grid to add to the existing capacity of approximately 7,500 megawatts.

"the Luzon grid needs around 10,000 megawatts, the Visayas grid also need at least 800 megawatts while the Mindanao grid requires another 1,000 megawatts of power by 2030, thus, the government is working out the development of more power plants and slowly close the gap of supply and demand in the future," Balawing stressed.

Aside from facilitating the development of more sources of renewable energy, Balawing said the energy department is also working out the implementation of programs and projects geared towards the preservation and protection of watersheds so that there will be abundant water that will sustain the hydro power production for the benefit of enhancing socio-economic development in the countryside.

He explained hydro and geothermal power developers are now conducting consultations with affected indigenous cultural communities and indigenous peoples in order for them to be able to secure their required free and prior informed consent so that they can proceed with the prosecution of their respective projects.

Republic Act (RA) 8371 or the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) mandates companies intending to exploit, develop and utilize the resources of a certain area to first secure the free and prior informed consent of the affected indigenous cultural communities and indigenous peoples before proceeding with their desired improvements and developments.

Balawing claimed there is really a need to facilitate the realization of pending power projects not only in the Cordillera but also in other parts of Luzon so that the predicted 180-day power blackouts by the year 2017 will be prevented and that the economic gains of the country will not be wasted thereby providing better living condition for the people in the far flung communities.

By: Dexter A. See of Cordillera Voice