By Augusto Villalon
Philippine Daily Inquirer
LAST week’s column piece “Where Have All the ‘Esteros’ Gone?” has generated several feedback from readers.
“Let’s change the way we live,” writes M.L.C. “All is not lost, we can still reverse the situation now...though we must first do our part in taking care of Mother Nature.”
“Your article was a good read for those who are concerned with what just happened [the floods]...One thing for us to look into is the lowly bamboo as alternative for construction. It is sturdy and grows easily. Plant them in areas prone to landslides.
“We have to live simply so that others may simply live.”
From another reader: “Yes, I agree the drainage in Manila is so outdated it is the big reason why rains flood Manila.”
Krisbelle of Pagadian City, who has been living in Manila for eight years, observes in Filipino: “I do not see cleanliness in Manila; people here do not care about their surroundings. Only one thing will prevent flooding, that canals and drainage are not clogged and proper exits are provided.”
Chronic disregard
Readers express mainly outrage at how the government has allowed the state of the urban and rural environments to dismally deteriorate.
Outrage? By all means, we should be outraged.
Look at the chronic disregard of planning and environmental ordinances by government authorities and real-estate developers.
Consider the poor maintenance of drainage and flood-control facilities; over-concreting of urban areas; unregulated building over natural waterways and open public areas, whether urban or rural; massive deforestation. These are just a few of a multitude of issues that must be looked into immediately.
But we are as much at fault as those in authority whom we like to blame.
Illegal residents squat on easements and clog waterways with trash. From upscale communities like Forbes Park to mid-scale BF Homes, residents appropriate public easements as well, either fencing them off or worse still, covering them over with permanent structures that clog urban waterways with concrete.
Plastic-free Philippines
These days, a covered basketball-cum-multipurpose area gifted by the leading local politician is the centerpiece of most town plazas, displacing the usual open planted areas that would have naturally drained excess water back into the ground. Goodbye to natural water absorption.
Despite ill-enforced environmental laws to protect our forests, rampant illegal logging persists. Goodbye to natural flood control.
Rather than being outraged at government carelessness and blaming it for the widespread degradation, should we not also be outraged at ourselves for being so remiss?
In the same way that ordinary citizens banded together to help out flood victims, people can channel their energy protecting the environment. We could start simply by taking care of our immediate surroundings, keeping it clean and free from garbage, avoiding the use of plastic altogether.
A plastic-free Philippines makes so much sense after seeing how drains and waterways clogged by plastic caused flooding and destruction. This is a call for us to use biodegradable materials.
We should let our cities breathe again. Peel away as much concrete as possible. Restore open areas and replant trees and shrubs to allow excess water to drain naturally back into the ground.
It is time to change our environmental paradigms. The old way of environmental laissez faire does not work, as the floods have so cruelly shown us.
After the floods, we can’t go back to our old habits. We have to change the way we live.
E-mail feedback and comments to pride.place@gmail.com.
Friday, October 30, 2009
‘Ondoy’s’ lesson: We must change the way we live
By Augusto Villalon
Philippine Daily Inquirer
LAST week’s column piece “Where Have All the ‘Esteros’ Gone?” has generated several feedback from readers.
“Let’s change the way we live,” writes M.L.C. “All is not lost, we can still reverse the situation now...though we must first do our part in taking care of Mother Nature.”
“Your article was a good read for those who are concerned with what just happened [the floods]...One thing for us to look into is the lowly bamboo as alternative for construction. It is sturdy and grows easily. Plant them in areas prone to landslides.
“We have to live simply so that others may simply live.”
From another reader: “Yes, I agree the drainage in Manila is so outdated it is the big reason why rains flood Manila.”
Krisbelle of Pagadian City, who has been living in Manila for eight years, observes in Filipino: “I do not see cleanliness in Manila; people here do not care about their surroundings. Only one thing will prevent flooding, that canals and drainage are not clogged and proper exits are provided.”
Chronic disregard
Readers express mainly outrage at how the government has allowed the state of the urban and rural environments to dismally deteriorate.
Outrage? By all means, we should be outraged.
Look at the chronic disregard of planning and environmental ordinances by government authorities and real-estate developers.
Consider the poor maintenance of drainage and flood-control facilities; over-concreting of urban areas; unregulated building over natural waterways and open public areas, whether urban or rural; massive deforestation. These are just a few of a multitude of issues that must be looked into immediately.
But we are as much at fault as those in authority whom we like to blame.
Illegal residents squat on easements and clog waterways with trash. From upscale communities like Forbes Park to mid-scale BF Homes, residents appropriate public easements as well, either fencing them off or worse still, covering them over with permanent structures that clog urban waterways with concrete.
Plastic-free Philippines
These days, a covered basketball-cum-multipurpose area gifted by the leading local politician is the centerpiece of most town plazas, displacing the usual open planted areas that would have naturally drained excess water back into the ground. Goodbye to natural water absorption.
Despite ill-enforced environmental laws to protect our forests, rampant illegal logging persists. Goodbye to natural flood control.
Rather than being outraged at government carelessness and blaming it for the widespread degradation, should we not also be outraged at ourselves for being so remiss?
In the same way that ordinary citizens banded together to help out flood victims, people can channel their energy protecting the environment. We could start simply by taking care of our immediate surroundings, keeping it clean and free from garbage, avoiding the use of plastic altogether.
A plastic-free Philippines makes so much sense after seeing how drains and waterways clogged by plastic caused flooding and destruction. This is a call for us to use biodegradable materials.
We should let our cities breathe again. Peel away as much concrete as possible. Restore open areas and replant trees and shrubs to allow excess water to drain naturally back into the ground.
It is time to change our environmental paradigms. The old way of environmental laissez faire does not work, as the floods have so cruelly shown us.
After the floods, we can’t go back to our old habits. We have to change the way we live.
E-mail feedback and comments to pride.place@gmail.com.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Wind energy blows strong in the Philippines
by Dennis Posadas
The recently held GTZ symposium on renewable energy held last October 8 at the Fully Booked in Bonifacio High Street was an interesting example of how investors and the public are now interacting with our new Renewable Energy Act. The passage of the 2008 Renewable Energy Act of the Philippines has paved the way for an increase in investments in the renewable energy sector. One of the areas that have benefited is the wind energy sector. It is estimated that the Philippines theoretically has around 76,000 MW in wind energy capacity, based on studies conducted by the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the Philippines Department of Energy.
It was reported in the Inquirer.net that the Department of Energy last September awarded three companies four new wind energy service contracts—Energy Development Corp. (PSE: EDC) for its planned 86-MW wind farm in Burgos, Ilocos Norte; UPC Asia Corp. for its 50-MW wind project in Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte; and PetroEnergy Resources Corp., which bagged two contracts for a 30-MW project in Sual, Pangasinan and a 30-MW project in Nabas, Aklan. Also, Energy Logics Philippines Inc.’s pre-commercial contract for a 120-MW wind farm in Pasuquin, Ilocos Norte, was converted to a wind energy service contract.
Several joint ventures between local businessmen and foreign companies and investors have also been announced in the local dailies, among those that have been reported include the Alterenergy Partners joint venture with Eurus Energy Japan and Korea East West Power Co. to identify projects in the 30 to 40 MW range; and the French wind turbine manufacturer Vergnet Group, said to be looking for joint venture partners.
The rule of thumb given is that each megawatt of capacity costs around USD $2m to 2.5m dollars. At present, aside from small isolated micro-wind installations in remote communities, the largest one at present is the 33MW wind farm in Bangui Bay, Ilocos Norte run by the Northwind Power Corporation, which contributes only 0.21% of the total electricity generated in the country, that is when the wind is blowing.
The 7,100 islands of the Philippines make it difficult to make electricity available in many areas, particularly those that are isolated from the main electric grid. Most large islands with large populations, such as Luzon, Panay, Cebu, Mindanao, and others have their own generation, distribution and utility companies to service their areas.
However, smaller islands with sparse populations or mountainous areas are a particular challenge. In these cases, sometimes the only practical solution is to use renewable energy power sources (e.g. wind, solar, biomass) or diesel powered generators.
Because wind, like solar, is an intermittent energy source, there has to be a means of storage to compensate for times when it is not generating power. In isolated off-grid areas, for smaller wind systems, this normally means a battery. In countries like the U.S., in the Texas Panhandle for example, T. Boone Pickens’s backup of choice is a natural gas turbine. But for the Philippine setting, the typical approach much like in most countries is to simply connect these large wind systems to the electric grid, and to simply sell power to the grid when it is generating. Anyway, just like in the U.S., the Philippines operates a spot market for electricity. In the case of renewable energy, a special spot market for renewable energy has been developed by the Philippine government to guarantee that there will be buyers for producers of renewable energy electricity.
One concern of some investors is the limit on foreign ownership. It is defined in the Philippine constitution that in certain key industries/sectors, foreign ownership is to be a minority, with a slight majority going to a Philippine partner. For some investors, it is not an issue, but for some it is. As former Energy Secretary and now Alterenergy Partners CEO Vince Perez mentioned during the GTZ symposium, at the moment the only choice is to look for a trusted Philippine partner to work with.
Another concern is in the way the public may perceive the Feed-in-Tariff, which is a key subsidy mechanism to attract investors to invest in renewable energy in the Philippines. During the Ramos administration, the government suddenly had to build power plants to meet a large capacity shortfall, and to do this, they had to entice investors with a ‘take or pay’ scheme meaning that even if the power was not being used, electricity utilities and therefore consumers had to shoulder part, if not all, of the cost of the unused generated power. There was such a big public outcry, especially in this country where the ‘cheapest power possible’ mentality rules, that it will sometimes if not always be difficult to pass measures that subsidize for example, renewable energy. Just like the personal computer and the semiconductor industry, renewable energy requires a steady market in order for private sector technologists to be attracted to constantly improve it. Unfortunately, the appetite for renewable energy seems to be correlated with the price of oil. If oil is cheap, the appetite for renewable energy disappears and vice versa. The Feed-in-Tariff hopes to counteract this tendency.
Personally, most people would like to see renewable energy succeed in the Philippines. The severe flooding brought about by typhoon Ondoy has brought home more awareness of the need for low carbon energy sources. Supporters of renewable energy hope that electricity consumers will actually step up to the plate and pay a little extra for renewable energy through the feed-in-tariff, in order to increase the returns for the companies and investors that go into this sector, already saddled by high upfront capital expense costs for wind (currently $2.5m per MW) and solar (currently $2/watt for silicon based photovoltaics and $1/watt for less efficient thin film based photovoltaics) and the threat of cheap oil. Besides, electricity consumers in the Philippines already pay a foreign currency adjustment charge for imported oil used in power generation. There is no reason why they should not accept a feed-in-tariff adder, given that they will no longer need to pay the foreign currency charge for that portion of the electricity bill.
Otherwise if consumers do not agree to pay the piper, then coal, the current king of the hill in terms of price, will really become entrenched as the power source of choice.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Dennis Posadas is the editor of Cleantech Asia Online, and the author of Jump Start: A Technopreneurship Fable (Singapore: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2009). He is is currently working on a new business fable on climate change and clean energy.
The recently held GTZ symposium on renewable energy held last October 8 at the Fully Booked in Bonifacio High Street was an interesting example of how investors and the public are now interacting with our new Renewable Energy Act. The passage of the 2008 Renewable Energy Act of the Philippines has paved the way for an increase in investments in the renewable energy sector. One of the areas that have benefited is the wind energy sector. It is estimated that the Philippines theoretically has around 76,000 MW in wind energy capacity, based on studies conducted by the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the Philippines Department of Energy.
It was reported in the Inquirer.net that the Department of Energy last September awarded three companies four new wind energy service contracts—Energy Development Corp. (PSE: EDC) for its planned 86-MW wind farm in Burgos, Ilocos Norte; UPC Asia Corp. for its 50-MW wind project in Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte; and PetroEnergy Resources Corp., which bagged two contracts for a 30-MW project in Sual, Pangasinan and a 30-MW project in Nabas, Aklan. Also, Energy Logics Philippines Inc.’s pre-commercial contract for a 120-MW wind farm in Pasuquin, Ilocos Norte, was converted to a wind energy service contract.
Several joint ventures between local businessmen and foreign companies and investors have also been announced in the local dailies, among those that have been reported include the Alterenergy Partners joint venture with Eurus Energy Japan and Korea East West Power Co. to identify projects in the 30 to 40 MW range; and the French wind turbine manufacturer Vergnet Group, said to be looking for joint venture partners.
The rule of thumb given is that each megawatt of capacity costs around USD $2m to 2.5m dollars. At present, aside from small isolated micro-wind installations in remote communities, the largest one at present is the 33MW wind farm in Bangui Bay, Ilocos Norte run by the Northwind Power Corporation, which contributes only 0.21% of the total electricity generated in the country, that is when the wind is blowing.
The 7,100 islands of the Philippines make it difficult to make electricity available in many areas, particularly those that are isolated from the main electric grid. Most large islands with large populations, such as Luzon, Panay, Cebu, Mindanao, and others have their own generation, distribution and utility companies to service their areas.
However, smaller islands with sparse populations or mountainous areas are a particular challenge. In these cases, sometimes the only practical solution is to use renewable energy power sources (e.g. wind, solar, biomass) or diesel powered generators.
Because wind, like solar, is an intermittent energy source, there has to be a means of storage to compensate for times when it is not generating power. In isolated off-grid areas, for smaller wind systems, this normally means a battery. In countries like the U.S., in the Texas Panhandle for example, T. Boone Pickens’s backup of choice is a natural gas turbine. But for the Philippine setting, the typical approach much like in most countries is to simply connect these large wind systems to the electric grid, and to simply sell power to the grid when it is generating. Anyway, just like in the U.S., the Philippines operates a spot market for electricity. In the case of renewable energy, a special spot market for renewable energy has been developed by the Philippine government to guarantee that there will be buyers for producers of renewable energy electricity.
One concern of some investors is the limit on foreign ownership. It is defined in the Philippine constitution that in certain key industries/sectors, foreign ownership is to be a minority, with a slight majority going to a Philippine partner. For some investors, it is not an issue, but for some it is. As former Energy Secretary and now Alterenergy Partners CEO Vince Perez mentioned during the GTZ symposium, at the moment the only choice is to look for a trusted Philippine partner to work with.
Another concern is in the way the public may perceive the Feed-in-Tariff, which is a key subsidy mechanism to attract investors to invest in renewable energy in the Philippines. During the Ramos administration, the government suddenly had to build power plants to meet a large capacity shortfall, and to do this, they had to entice investors with a ‘take or pay’ scheme meaning that even if the power was not being used, electricity utilities and therefore consumers had to shoulder part, if not all, of the cost of the unused generated power. There was such a big public outcry, especially in this country where the ‘cheapest power possible’ mentality rules, that it will sometimes if not always be difficult to pass measures that subsidize for example, renewable energy. Just like the personal computer and the semiconductor industry, renewable energy requires a steady market in order for private sector technologists to be attracted to constantly improve it. Unfortunately, the appetite for renewable energy seems to be correlated with the price of oil. If oil is cheap, the appetite for renewable energy disappears and vice versa. The Feed-in-Tariff hopes to counteract this tendency.
Personally, most people would like to see renewable energy succeed in the Philippines. The severe flooding brought about by typhoon Ondoy has brought home more awareness of the need for low carbon energy sources. Supporters of renewable energy hope that electricity consumers will actually step up to the plate and pay a little extra for renewable energy through the feed-in-tariff, in order to increase the returns for the companies and investors that go into this sector, already saddled by high upfront capital expense costs for wind (currently $2.5m per MW) and solar (currently $2/watt for silicon based photovoltaics and $1/watt for less efficient thin film based photovoltaics) and the threat of cheap oil. Besides, electricity consumers in the Philippines already pay a foreign currency adjustment charge for imported oil used in power generation. There is no reason why they should not accept a feed-in-tariff adder, given that they will no longer need to pay the foreign currency charge for that portion of the electricity bill.
Otherwise if consumers do not agree to pay the piper, then coal, the current king of the hill in terms of price, will really become entrenched as the power source of choice.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Dennis Posadas is the editor of Cleantech Asia Online, and the author of Jump Start: A Technopreneurship Fable (Singapore: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2009). He is is currently working on a new business fable on climate change and clean energy.
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