In a country that experiences tumultuous rains every year, the question of how much our energy system can withstand is more urgent than ever. With flash floods and power outages happening more than we could anticipate, this year’s typhoons – particularly Carina and Enteng – tested the resilience of our power grid.
During the first episode of the “Powering up: Weathering calamities in the energy transition” roundtable discussion presented by AboitizPower and the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, they discussed the solutions we can implement to strengthen the resilience of the Philippine energy system.
The discussion was led by European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines Energy Committee chairperson Ruth Yu-Owen. She was joined by fellow experts in the local energy sector: Atty. Monalisa Dimalanta, chairperson and CEO of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC); and Professor Rowaldo “Wali” Del Mundo, associate dean of the College of Engineering at the University of the Philippines – Diliman.
Atty. Monalisa shared that to improve our energy resilience, we must first understand the Philippines’ unique situation: “For me, the twin of energy transition is to look for [a] fit-for-purpose (energy) solution. Energy transition isn’t a one-size-fits-all concept. You need to look at the situation of each country.”
She added that as a developing country, we should also consider that the energy transition has to make economic sense beyond its environmental and sustainability merits.
“We can tick all those boxes on sustainability, affordability, and energy security if we are able to harmonize and optimize all these resources,” Atty. Monalisa said.
With the Philippines being an archipelagic country consisting of thousands of separated islands, the panelists agreed that each region should ideally have its own power source to lessen the dependence on uniform ways to distribute energy.
“While the approach before was that the islands have to be connected, I think now we know it’s not only uneconomical to insist on connecting all islands, but it may not be the best solution for all of our islands [to be connected],” Atty Monalisa said.
Prof. Wali emphasized that power outages aren’t just tied to specific seasons but are more telling of our preparedness. Flash floods triggered by heavy rains and the extreme heat of El Niño, which affects hydroelectric production while driving up electricity demand, are just some of the key challenges.
With the Visayas Power Grid being placed under yellow alert earlier this year amid power outages, the panelists agreed on the idea of power islanding. This approach is when power plants are intentionally isolated in a specific area to avoid widespread grid disturbances, just in case a part of the system fluctuates.
“[Power islanding] din talagang bagay doon sa dahil nga sa climate natin. Lalo na yung mga storms. Local naman yan,” Professor Wali said. “Kung ang gagawin natin mas marami, mas maliit, mas distributed then mas magiging resilient ang ating energy transition.”
[“Power islanding really fits with our climate, especially with the storms. That’s local. If we make more, smaller, and more distributed (energy sources), then our energy transition will be more resilient.”]
Ultimately, the conversation highlighted that while energy transition is crucial, it must be coupled with solutions designed with differences in mind to ensure our power supply can be stable under extreme weather – typhoons and droughts alike.
Watch the “Powering up: Weathering calamities in the energy transition” roundtable discussion series here:
*This roundtable discussion was recorded on August 20, 2024.
– Rappler.com
