THE Department of Energy (DOE) refuted the claims of a global report which said the Philippines is now among the world’s top 10 economies most dependent on coal-fired power after surpassing China and Indonesia.
The DOE said the country’s power generation mix should not be directly compared with large economies, particularly in terms of the share of coal in the power generation due to significant differences in demographic, economic and energy profiles.
This is DOE’s reaction to a report of energy think tank Ember.
The DOE cited the Global Energy Monitor Report in January 2024 which showed China has an installed coal power plant capacity of 1,136.7 gigawatts (GW), Indonesia has 51.6 GW while the Philippines has only 12.1 GW.
“This underscored the vast difference in the scale of energy economic infrastructures among the three countries. Moreover, the disparity is evident in the gross generation mix from coal power plants,” DOE said.
“In 2021 alone, China generated 5,417, 848 gigawatt hours (GWh) from coal, Indonesia generated 189,683 GWh while the Philippines only generated 65,052 GWh. Even with the increase to 69,472 GWh in 2023, the Philippines’ figures remain significantly lower than those of China and Indonesia,” DOE added.
The agency said while coal remains to have the largest share in the country’s power generation mix, the Philippines makes up a minimal share of global emissions from coal.
Citing the European Commission – Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research on greenhouse gas emissions of all world countries 2023 report, China remained the largest greenhouse gas emitter contributing 29.2 percent of total emissions while Indonesia ranked 7th with a 2.3 percent but the Philippines accounted for just 0.5 percent of the world’s emissions.
“While the Philippines relies heavily on coal-fired power generation, the absolute amount of generation and corresponding emissions are minimal as compared to those of China and Indonesia. Therefore, the Philippines, cannot be reasonably compared to these larger economies, which have different energy strategies and infrastructures adapted to their specific demographic and economic conditions,” the DOE said.
Meanwhile, DOE undersecretary Rowena Guevara said at least 1,300 megawatts (MW) of coal-fired power plants are expected to come online by next year.
Guevara, in a forum in Taguig City yesterday, said these coal capacities from four projects were approved before the moratorium on coal projects were put in place in 2020. Guevara also said the DOE expects the share of renewable energy in the power mix will overtake coal by 2028.
The 2023 to 2050 Philippine Energy Plan targets to increase the share of renewable and indigenous energy sources to 35 percent sin the power generation mix by 2030 and 50 percent by 2040.
Total installed on-grid power capacity as of end of 2023 was at 28,291 MW, 43.9 percent of which or 12,406 MW are from coal-fired power plants.
Total installed RE capacity comprised of solar, wind, hydro, geothermal and biomass technologies is at 8,416 MW equivalent to 29.7 percent.
