Energy Undersecretary Felix William Fuentebella told the investors the Philippines they could look at five energy sectors: power, oil and gas, coal, natural gas and renewable energy .Fuentebella said that as a result of the reforms implemented under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act , the power sector has become very lucrative.
The Visayas grid has 14 proponents for committed power projects of 784.7MW. The projects include coal-fired plants with 735MW capacity in Toledo City and Barangay Nipa Conception in Iloilo which is targeted to run this year. In biomass, there are eight projects with 206.6MW which are in Victoria, Binalbagan, Calasagan, Himamaylan, Manapla in Negros Occidental. Target operation date is December.
According to Fuentebella, developing countries like the Philippines need a cost-efficient and reliable energy mix of conventional and non-conventional sources to meet their economic potentials.