Energy Columns in BusinessWorld

BRICS energy and Philippine hosting of FIBA games August 29, 2023 | 12:02 am My Cup Of Liberty By Bienvenido S. Oplas, Jr. https://www.bworldonline.com/opinion/2023/08/29/541936/brics-energy-and-philippine-hosting-of-fiba-games/ Two important events occurred last week. One was the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, S. Africa) summit that ended on Aug. 24, and they announced membership expansion to six other countries starting January 2024. No. 2 was the start of Federacion International de Basketball (FIBA) World Cup on Aug. 25 at the Philippine Arena. BRICS EXPANSION The original five BRICS member-countries were already huge in population. With the addition of six more countries, the bloc will now be called BRICS-11 and would have a combined population of 3.64 billion people as of 2022 — a huge consumer market. — Table 1 compares some basic economic and energy data on BRICS, the expanded members, G7 industrialized countries and the ASEAN-6. Here are the basic facts as of 2022. One, ...

Energy realism: Decarbonization and deindustrialization August 17, 2023 | 12:02 am My Cup Of Liberty By Bienvenido S. Oplas, Jr. https://www.bworldonline.com/opinion/2023/08/17/539962/energy-realism-decarbonization-and-deindustrialization/ (Part 4) The rush for “net zero” emissions and decarbonization is evident in Europe while many Asian countries are not so enamored with this rush. I have put together a chart showing how the United Kingdom and Spain are in a mad rush towards decarbonization by ditching their coal consumption, compared to China’s more considered conversion and Vietnam’s rejection of decarbonization. The percentage of coal/total power generation from 1992 to 2022 are as follows: UK, 60% to 2%; Spain, 41% to 3%; China, 75% to 61%; and Vietnam, 9% to 39%. As countries reduce their coal consumption, their overall power generation either declines or flatlines (See Table 1). To cover more countries, I added Germany and France to the “rush-to-net-zero” decarbonization countr...

Energy at SONA 2023 and electric cooperatives August 3, 2023 My Cup Of Liberty By Bienvenido S. Oplas, Jr. https://www.bworldonline.com/opinion/2023/08/03/537440/energy-at-sona-2023-and-electric-cooperatives/ At his second State of the Nation Address (SONA) last week, President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. said, “We finally have a Unified National Grid, with the interconnection of the Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao grids… However, 68 grid connection projects are much delayed, according to the ERC’s count. We are conducting a performance review of our private concessionaire, the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP). We look to NGCP to complete all of its deliverables, starting with the vital Mindanao-Visayas and the Cebu-Negros-Panay interconnections.” Good points, Mr. President. The NGCP is the only remaining private monopoly nationwide. All other existing monopolies are geography or province-based, like electric cooperatives (ECs) and private distribution utilities (DUs). NGCP is the ...

First year of Marcos: Assessing energy policies July 25, 2023 | 12:02 am My Cup Of Liberty By Bienvenido S. Oplas, Jr. https://www.bworldonline.com/opinion/2023/07/25/535715/first-year-of-marcos-assessing-energy-policies/ We base this assessment on the first State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr., given on July 25, 2022. In his 2022 SONA, the President said this about the energy sector: “Another fundamental requirement for growth and increased employment will be the availability of cheap, reliable energy… We must increase the level of energy production… We must build new power plants…. improving the mix of the energy supply between traditional and renewable sources. “In the interim, natural gas will hold the key. We will provide investment incentives by clarifying the uncertain policy in upstream gas, particularly in the area close to Malampaya… re-examine our strategy towards building nuclear power plants in the Philippines.… allow smaller scale modul...

Energy realism: Oil-coal consumption and NGCP’s delayed projects July 13, 2023 | 12:02 am My Cup Of Liberty By Bienvenido S. Oplas, Jr. https://www.bworldonline.com/opinion/2023/07/13/533840/energy-realism-oil-coal-consumption-and-ngcps-delayed-projects/ (Part 3) Last week two beautiful statements from two agencies came out. One was from the Department of Energy (DoE) on July 6: “DoE, MENRE Sign Circular on the Joint Award of Petroleum Service Contracts and Coal Operating Contracts in the BARMM.” The other was from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) on July 7: “Pangandaman lauds DoE-BARMM deal on energy exploration.” The DoE and the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources, and Energy (MENRE) of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) signed the Intergovernmental Energy Board (IEB) Circular on the Joint Award of Petroleum Service Contracts (PSCs) and Coal Operating Contracts (COCs) in the BARMM at Malacañang Palace, witnessed by President Ferdinand E. ...

Energy realism: G7, BRICS, and other big Asian economies July 6, 2023 | 12:02 am My Cup Of Liberty By Bienvenido S. Oplas, Jr. https://www.bworldonline.com/opinion/2023/07/06/532516/energy-realism-g7-brics-and-other-big-asian-economies/ The latest global and multi-country data from the Energy Institute Statistical Review of World Energy 2023 (EI-SRWE) further confirm that as countries embrace “decarbonization” and reduce their fossil fuel consumption, their economic expansion is compromised and restricted. I compared the economic and energy performance over the past 25 years — 1997 to 2022 — of four groups of countries: the G7 industrialized countries, the competing economic bloc BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa), other big Asians (OBAs) like South Korea and Saudi Arabia, and the ASEAN-6. The three indicators of comparison are: GDP size in Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) values, primary energy consumption (PEC), and power or electricity generation. The results are intere...

Energy realism: Raising consumption and economic growth June 29, 2023 | 12:02 am My Cup Of Liberty By Bienvenido S. Oplas, Jr. https://www.bworldonline.com/opinion/2023/06/29/531213/energy-realism-raising-consumption-and-economic-growth/ (Part 1) This column will produce a series of articles on energy realism, not alarmism, to support sustained economic growth for developing countries, especially the Philippines. New global data are now available from the Energy Institute (EI), which launched the Statistical Review of World Energy 2023 on June 26. The report has been published by British Petroleum since the 1960s until 2022. We start with consumption of primary energy — commercially traded fuels, fossil and nuclear, plus modern renewables for electricity generation. I compare GDP per capita at purchasing power parity values at constant prices, and primary energy consumption in gigajoule (GJ) per capita. One GJ is equivalent to 277.8 kWh in electricity, or 0.16 barrel of oil. I grouped ...

FDI in the Philippines and the energy mix June 20, 2023 | 12:02 am My Cup Of Liberty By Bienvenido S. Oplas, Jr. https://www.bworldonline.com/opinion/2023/06/20/529550/fdi-in-the-philippines-and-the-energy-mix/ .... MANY ENERGY ISSUES There have been many energy-related issues that cropped up recently. I have arranged them into sub-topics, with all stories published in  BusinessWorld  and mostly written by Ashley Erika Jose, my favorite objective energy reporter. 1.) Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) and distributors: “ERC issues 33 show-cause orders against power co-ops, distributors” (May 31), “ERC orders distributors to explain higher-than-approved power charges” (June 8). 2.) Department of Energy (DoE) and renewables: “DoE calls for fair treatment of poor countries in transition to green-energy technology” (June 6), “Energy dep’t clarifies on-grid rollout procedures for renewables” (June 6), “DoE registers P6.8B worth of investments in energy efficiency” (June 13), “DoE m...

Declining inflation and Germany’s energiewende June 8, 2023 | 12:02 am My Cup Of Liberty By Bienvenido S. Oplas, Jr. https://www.bworldonline.com/opinion/2023/06/08/527389/declining-inflation-and-germanys-energiewende/ ... ERRATUM I would like to apologize to the readers for the error in transposition in headings in Table 1 of my column last week, “NGCP, low power generation, and the Maharlika Fund” (June 1). The table’s column on Population should have been for Power generation and vice versa. Sorry for that mistake and the confusion it created. Nonetheless, the column and computed kWh/person remains valid and correct. Also, the numbers on average growth in power generation and GDP remain valid and correct. Meanwhile, here are some points about the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) that I did not include in my column last week. One, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) in previous administrations had issued a lot of show cause orders with penalties to private distributio...

NGCP, low power generation, and the Maharlika Fund June 1, 2023 | 12:02 am My Cup Of Liberty By Bienvenido S. Oplas, Jr. https://www.bworldonline.com/opinion/2023/06/01/526039/ngcp-low-power-generation-and-the-maharlika-fund/ Last week, the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) was a hot item. See for instance these reports in  BusinessWorld , “Senate probe sought on delays in NGCP projects” (May 21), “DoE, ERC seek enhanced powers in EPIRA amendments” (May 23), “Senators slam NGCP over poor network, keeping high gains” (May 24), “NGCP says it invested P300 billion in grid since 2009” (May 25). THE SENATE ENERGY COMMITTEE HEARING The Senate Committee on Energy, chaired by Rafael Tulfo, conducted a public hearing on May 24. Among the resource persons, Prof. Rowaldo del Mundo of the UP College of Engineering said that “Out of 219 committed projects under the DoE (Department of Energy)-approved transmission development plan (TDP), 79 were not implemented and 49% of completed a...