ASSERTING the need to ensure energy security, Senator Sherwin T. Gatchalian is batting for the adoption of new technologies in the midst of expectations of stronger electricity and energy demand as the country transitions to “a cleaner energy future.”
“We have to look at emerging technologies such as batteries and other energy storage systems,” the senator suggested,” disclosing that “we are also in the midst of filing a bill to promote energy storage which includes batteries.”
Gatchalian added: “No matter how controversial, we should also look at new technologies for nuclear power such as smaller modular reactors and generation IV nuclear reactors.”
The senator stressed that “although this needs a little more time, we have to look at these emerging technologies since we also have no law or any single regulation on these. We can come up with a corresponding legislation.”
He noted that the country is “currently 50-percent self-sufficient in energy supply, imports 100 percent of its coal requirement to meet the rest of its electricity requirement, and that the only source of natural gas is depleting.”
Gatchalian said that “on top of that, the demand for electricity in the country increases by an average of 6.53 percent a year, in tandem with economic growth, which means the country needs to produce an additional 66,937 MW [megawatts] of additional power supply to sufficiently address electricity demand moving forward.”
Measures filed
ACKNOWLEDGING that “because we import a huge chunk of fuel for our electricity supply, any disruption overseas such as the Russia-Ukraine conflict, usually impacts the electricity, fuel cost and livelihood of our poorest folks,” he reminds this is “why we need to continually look for all possible ways to improve energy security and supply of electricity in our country.”
Gatchalian recalled that he already filed several measures in a bid to ensure energy security in the long term, citing, for instance Senate Bill (SB) 152 or the proposed Midstream Natural Gas Development Act, envisioned to provide for third-party access to liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals and transmission pipelines.
In addition, he also cited his SB 151 or the proposed Waste-to-Energy (WTE) Act, a sustainable way of waste disposal and energy generation. Also, SB 485 removes a 100-kilowatt cap for the distribution of energy generated from solar panels. This would enable more businesses, such as factories, to put solar panels on their rooftops.
The lawmaker, likewise, recalled filing SB 157, to be known as the “Energy Transition Act,” crafted to provide for the creation of an Energy Transition Plan to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 and remove dependence on imported fuel.
Gatchalian added that “such a plan includes a moratorium on the establishment of new fuel plants and the entry of new internal combustion.”