Energy Columns in BusinessWorld

Nuclear energy and economic growth June 25, 2024 | 12:02 am My Cup Of Liberty By Bienvenido S. Oplas, Jr. Share https://www.bworldonline.com/opinion/2024/06/25/603824/nuclear-energy-and-economic-growth/ L ast week I attended two energy fora. The  fi rst was the Stratbase-Citizen Watch forum, “Advancing Energy Security: Fueling Sustainable Progress with Lique fi ed Natural Gas (LNG),” on June 18 at the Asian Institute of Management Conference Center, Makati. The second was the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) Power Summit 2024 with the theme, “Moving the Economy Forward with Energy and Power Security and Competitiveness,” on June 19 at the Makati Diamond Residences. The keynote message for the  fi rst forum was delivered via video by Energy Secretary Raphael P.M. Lotilla. The other speakers were Majah-Leah Ravago, President and CEO of the Development Academy of the Philippines; Dominic Camu, the COO of Global Business Power; Carlos Aboitiz, Chief Corporate Ser...

On the role of coal in Asia and renewing Meralco’s franchise June 13, 2024 | 12:02 am My Cup Of Liberty By Bienvenido S. Oplas, Jr. Shar https://www.bworldonline.com/opinion/2024/06/13/601320/on-the-role-of-coal-in-asia-and-renewing-meralcos-franchise/ A  friend sent me a beautiful recent study, “Assessment of the Role of Coal in the ASEAN Energy Transition and Coal Phase-out,” published by the Jakarta-based ASEAN Energy Center (ACE) and guided by the ASEAN Forum on Coal (AFOC) and the ASEAN Secretariat. It is 58 pages long, released this May. I checked my data to answer this question: What is the contribution of coal in the ASEAN, in Asia, and the industrial west? Over the past three decades, 1992-2022, big countries in Asia including Japan were increasing their coal power generation while the US, Canada, Germany, and the UK had been downscaling their coal use. With this trend, the total power generation of the Asian nations jumped, like Vietnam, which went from 10 terawatt-hours ...

  Thinning reserves and why we need nuclear energy June 4, 2024 | 12:02 am My Cup Of Liberty By Bienvenido S. Oplas, Jr. Share https://www.bworldonline.com/opinion/2024/06/04/599215/thinning-reserves-and-why-we-need-nuclear-energy/ A ft er many weeks of frequent yellow-red alerts this year, last Saturday, June 1, was really bad because a rotating blackout  fi nally happened. On average it was 1.5 hours long in many Meralco franchise areas, but I was in western Pangasinan that day and the blackout lasted from 6:30 to 9:40 p.m., or three hours and 10 minutes. While electric lights can be substituted by candles or small movable solar lights, it was the absence of electric fans, and the inability to recharge mobile phones, laptops and other gadgets that worsened things. I was searching to find out what big power plants were out, how many megawatts (MW) had been lost the past few weeks, which the narrative that “generation companies (are in) collusion to raise prices” is feeding an...

Degrowth vs prosperity in economic and energy policies May 23, 2024 | 12:02 am By Bienvenido S. Oplas, Jr. https://www.bworldonline.com/opinion/2024/05/23/596810/degrowth-vs-prosperity-in-economic-and-energy-policies/ S There has been some not so good news in the Philippines’ fiscal and energy sectors recently. See these stories in  BusinessWorld : “Philippines aims to double solar, quadruple share of wind in power output by 2030” (April 30), “Zero tariff policy now extended to two-wheeled EVs, hybrid vehicles” (May 17), “Yellow alert raised over Luzon, Visayas” (May 20), “Biofuel decision seen requiring study due to impact on poor” (May 21). The zero tariff policy on imported EVs is another double standard in taxation. Even if the government needs additional tax revenues to reduce the budget deficit — P272.6 billion in Q1 2024, slightly up from P270.9 billion in Q1 2023 — the government gives up collecting taxes from people who are not really poor since they can afford EV motorcyc...