The representative of the Department of Energy gave a presentation on the renewable energy use in Mindanao. The EPs gave presentations about the energy situation in their home countries of Finland, Germany, and the Netherlands. This post will provide summaries of the presentations.
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| The UNPLUG EPs and project leaders together with the DOE representative. |
Renewable energy in Mindanao
More than 55% of the power generated in Mindanao is from renewable sources.
The implementation of renewable energy in the Philippines already started in
the 1970's when the country started to develop it's geothermal resources.The
Philippines are blessed with abundant solar, tidal, hydro, wind, geothermal,
and biomass resources which makes the transition to renewable energy practical.
In addition the power generated from hydroelectric power (over 50%) is cheaper
than power generation from fossil sources. Because of the large scale
implementation of renewable energy in Mindanao, the island has the lowest
electricity prices in the entire Philippines. Furthermore, worldwide concerns
about climate change mitigation and energy independence also play a role in the
Philippine pro-renewable agenda.
Renewable energy stimulates the Economic and Local Development policy in
Mindanao, an approach to developments that places importance on activities at
the local level. The Economic and Local Development includes:
- Promote
favorable investment climate
- Leads
to avoided fuel costs or foreign exchange
- Promote
rural and off-grid development
- Estimated
$1.23 billion net benefits through development of 2,500 MW of renewable
energy until 2014
- Savings
in health and welfare cost/benefits due to less air pollution.
The dependence on hydroelectric power is part of the reason why there is an
energy crisis in Mindanao, since hydroelectric power plants are very vulnerable
to climate change. To solve the energy crisis the Department of Energy is
promoting energy conservation to keep the demand in check. It is however
expected that even with a more energy efficient approach the energy demand will
keep rising in the coming years. New sources of power are therefore necessary.
One way to increase power production is by installing oil and coal power
plants, but these power plants take time to construct, are unsustainable, and
expensive for Mindanao. Therefore the Department of Energy of Mindanao wants to
promote the installation of more renewable power stations. The mandate adopted
for this is to "Encourage private sector participation in energy resource
development".
The final message was "halina't mag-RE na tayo!" (with Renewable Energy, we can!):
- Stop
climate change
- Preserve
the environment
- Achieve
energy security and sufficiency
- Attain
sustainable development
- Improve
the quality of life for all.
For more information on the topic of energy in Mindanao visit the
Department of Energy website: www.doe.gov.ph
Energy in EP home countries
Energy in Finland
Finland does not have many energy resources of its own, apart from forests which cover 78% of the land. However, there are no forests particularly for energy wood production but all energy that is harvested from the forests come from excess of forest industry. Whether straight from the logging sites or from the factories. But more on forest later. Finland relies heavily on nuclear energy and imported energy sources (mainly from Russia).About Finland
Finland is located in northern Europe, neighboring countries include Sweden, Russia and Norway. Population rounds to 5,4 million people, and population density to 17,6 p/km2. (The Philippines 337p/km2). The conditions affecting Finland's energy need are the cold climate (four distinct seasons overall), long distances, industry that us heavily dependent on energy, and citizens' consumption habits. Industry uses 46%, transportation 16%, heating 12% and other 12% of total energy.
Finland is the world's leading country in using forest energy. All excess material from forest industry (factories) is used in energy production, e.g. saw dust. Also excess material from main logging is being used, e.g. woodchips from branches and tops of trees. This is not used to its full potential and for example wood chip usage is expected to double until 2020.
Finland is dependent on Russia, 70% of imported energy come there. All natural gas and 90% of oil and coal is imported from Russia. Finland has secured 5 months' supply of fuel. Finland currently has two nuclear plants with 2 reactors in each. These were built in the 70s and are closing their last years in use. 2 reactors will be shut down 2018, another in 2027 and 2030. Third reactor in the other plant is being built and should be up and in commercial use in 2016. Another reactor is also planned and its main contractor has been chosen, surprisingly enough a Russian one.
Peat is described as slowly renewable biomassfuel, although renewing takes 2000-3000 years. Lands containing peat are usually swamps or such damp areas, in Finland there is around 9 million hectares of lands containing it. Therefore its use is regional and it also releases a lot of CO2 emissions.
There are 220 water energy plants in Finland, which is essentially in full capacity. There are 211 wind turbines, and the number is rising. In the last year, wind energy production has gone up 56%. Finland also imports electricity, mainly from Sweden. Finland exports energy vice versa, for example Finnish electricity export to Estonia tripled last year.
Energy in Germany
First of all the presentation gave a brief overview on Germany concerning its location, size, inhabitants and energy consumption. After that the participants got insight on the current energy mix Germany is using to meet its energy consumption. With a third of total energy consumption oil is used most, followed by gas (around 20%) and coal (lignite and hard coal both around 12%). Renewable energies are covering 10% of Germany's energy consumption but it is aimed to cover 50% of total energy consumption with renewable sources by 2050. After presenting about the energy mix in general, the presentation went on about the different sources of energy in particular. Just like Finland Germany is very dependent on Russian imports of fossil fuels (oil, gas and hard coal). Due to a phase-out policy in 2011 after the Fukushima Dai-ichi incident, Germany's nuclear power plants are phasing-out until 2022. Renewable energies are supposed to substitute the electricity the nuclear power plants delivered but due to cheap hard coal and lignite on the world market energy utilities tend to use these fossil fuels to run their plants and produce electricity. To meet the goal of 50% of renewable energies by 2050 Germany uses several mechanisms to substitute renewable energy sources to enable them to compete with other sources of energy.After finishing the part about the different sources, the audience was given a brief overview about electricity production in Germany and the European electricity transmission grids. A graph about the development of electricity production over the past 14 years showed that renewables were progressively increasing while nuclear power and others decreased.
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| Energy production in Germany today |
Today (data from 2014) Germany uses renewable energies to produce 26% of its electricity. While lignite (25%) and hard coal (18%) also play a big role in electricity production, nuclear power decreased from approximately 30% in 2000 to 16% today. By 2022 0% will be produced by nuclear plants. The excursion about the European electricity transmission showed that most of countries in central Europe are connected via high current grids. This helps to improve further usage of renewable energies. Since renewable electricity and also energy production can't be scheduled and is fluctuating there might by times when Germany produces more or less electricity than needed. In those times the European grids are crucial to maintain grid stability and security of supply.
Energy in the Netherlands
In the Netherlands most of the energy is still supplied by means of fossil fuels. Only 4% of the total energy demand and 10% of the electricity demand are met by renewable resources. The main reason for the small contribution is the importance of the existing fossil fuel markets in the Netherlands. The largest natural gas field in the world is located in Groningen, the Netherlands. The harbor in Rotterdam is an important location for the import of crude oil and several multinationals have refineries located close to the harbor as well. The abundance of fossil fuels in the Netherlands has been an important part of the national economy for years and keeps energy prices low. This makes it difficult for renewable energy to compete without adequate policy.
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| Wind energy the most important source of renewable electricity in 2014 |
Even so the amount of renewable electricity has been growing in the Netherlands, up to 10% in 2014 compared to just over 2% in 2000. The major sources used to generate renewable power in the Netherlands are wind power and biomass. To meet European demands of clean energy generation the Dutch government intends to more than double the amount of wind power on land in 2020 and increase the amount of wind power generated at sea almost 20 times by 2023. And even though solar energy does not contribute much to the electricity mix in the Netherlands, the amount of installed capacity is growing rapidly with more than twice the capacity installed in 2012 compared to 2011. With the increasing attention for renewable energy sources the Netherlands can hope to meet European standards in 2020 and continue its path towards becoming a more sustainable country.
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