DOE eyes better standards, policy on shutdown of coal plants

‘Voluntary retirement and repurposing (of coal plants) is part of our energy transition,’ DOE Undersecretary Rowena Cristina Guevara says

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Energy (DOE) is eyeing improved standards for generation performance of coal-fired power plants and a policy for voluntary shutdown of the plants “very soon,” said Energy Undersecretary Rowena Cristina Guevara on Wednesday, November 20.

According to Guevara, coal-fired power plants have been “cycling” or load following, which means they are adjusting power output depending on demand.

Normally, coal-fired power plants are used for base load generation, expected to operate continuously and produce reliable power for daily demand.

“What we noticed was, the coal plants were cycling. They were going up and down every day. This is bad for coal plants. They are supposed to be baseload,” said Guevara in a forum in Makati on Wednesday.

The energy official said there had been 53,000 outages in 2023, which “tells you that there must be some standard” and a policy for shutdown.

“And so we’ll go after the dirtiest,” Guevara said. “The technology is not clean enough. And then we’ll also go after the ones that are inefficient.”

Phasing out coal and other fossil fuels is crucial in mitigating impacts of climate change and reducing greenhouse gas emissions warming the world.

The lay of the land

The government cannot tell the private sector, which owns majority of the coal-fired power plants in the country, to shut down the plants, said Guevara.

“Voluntary retirement and repurposing (of coal plants) is part of our energy transition,” said Guevara.

Voluntary shutdown is something that Ayala-led ACEN is already working on. In 2023, the company announced its plans to start the early retirement the South Luzon Thermal Energy Corporation coal-fired power plant. Guevara said two companies already approached the agency “willing to do voluntary shutdown” of their coal plants, but she did not name them. 

In the Philippines’ clean energy scenario, renewables would make up 35% of the energy mix by 2030 and 50% by 2040. Under this same scenario, the share of coal would go down to 20.8% by 2040. Currently, it makes up more than half of the energy mix.

The government estimates that these targets, among others, will reduce at least 12% of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions to meet what we pledged to the United Nations.

A coal moratorium in 2019 banned new coal plants to be built. But the ban has exemptions.

This year, Britain was the first G7 country to end coal power. On September 30, Britain’s last operating coal-fired power plant in Ratcliffe-on-Soar, Nottinghamshire, shut down.

This marked more than a century of Britain’s coal power use, a signal to developed nations that phasing out coal is possible.

Social justice in transition

Regardless of source, access to electricity remains a huge issue especially those in remote areas.

“If ever we increase our capacity for solar, offshore wind, among others, are we ensuring that those who don’t have energy access now, or those who have energy insecurity, are better positioned to do and develop their own lives?” Angelo Kairos dela Cruz of Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities said in the same forum.

As of 2023, more than two million households in the Philippines do not have access to electricity.

But accessibility is only part of the broader call for just energy transition. There’s also the extraction of materials needed for the shift to renewables.

“Where do we get them?” said Dela Cruz.

“How do we ensure that it’s also just for those countries that have to start mining more to provide this global emerging demand for batteries, for panels?” – Rappler.com