The Philippines has stopped accepting all new projects related to Coal power projects. The government’s energy chief on Wednesday said the government took this decision to increase the investment in several other energy sectors such as natural gas and renewables.
The decision to emphasis on green energy comes to the consideration as government aggressively considering natural gas as a major and primary source of energy in the country’s industrial, commercial and household sectors.
In the country the coal is set to use as dominant power source inn previous years. But the current moratorium doesn’t cover the already submitted or in work projects, The Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said.
A rash of approvals for coal-fired power plants in recent years has boosted coal’s dominance in the country’s power mix, accounting for 41 per cent of capacity last year, when the country’s overall installed power capacity stood at 25,531 megawatts, Department of Energy data showed.
Renewable energy is contributing 29% to the mix, while several other natural gases are taking 13.5%. The rest was for oil-based fuel.
“We see that we have enough supply for baseload power and we’re looking at a more flexible source like gas, geothermal, hydro and others,” Cusi told a briefing.
