The Department of Energy (DOE) is looking at again offering nine neglected coal operating contracts to interested investors.
Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes said the contracts are part of the 25 it offered in the Philippine Energy Contracting Round this year that investors failed to tap.

“We have offered 25 operating contracts but only 16 had bidders. So the balance of nine coal operating contracts are still available,” he said.

The Energy chief said the contracts would be made available in the next public contracting round next year at the latest.

In September, the DOE awarded 11 coal exploration and development contracts to investors. A month later, the agency awarded five more contracts.

Despite its deleterious effects on health and the environment, government views coal, which is considered one of the cheapest fuel sources, as a “transition fuel” while the country’s relatively cleaner and more sustainable renewable energy sources are still being developed.

Based on data from the DOE, coal contributes about a quarter of the country’s power generation mix. Besides power generation, coal is also used in the cement, chemical, paper, canning, alcohol, smelting and fertilizer industries.

Locally produced coal, however, meets only 30 percent of domestic demand.

But the volatility of oil prices and the development of new technologies have fostered a growing interest in local coal in lieu of imported varieties.

“We are encouraged by the fact that the demand for coal has increased. This is because a lot of people are converting from bunker with oil prices going up and bunker of course is dirtier,” Reyes said.

Euan Paulo C. Añonuevo