The country’s power situation may be a pressing topic for the upcoming May 2022 polls, a top official of the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST-PNRI) said.
DOST-PNRI Director Dr. Carlo Arcilla said necessary measures should be implemented to address the impending energy crisis in the next few months.
“I don’t wish this upon us, pero (but) if the DOE’s projection that Malampaya will run out in three years, and our power rates further increase, this might even be a factor in the elections to come because the elections will happen in May,” he said in a virtual presser as part of the DOST-PNRI’s Atomic Energy Week celebration.
“If there are power increases before that time, it will be incumbent to the next administration to tackle this issue.”
The DOST-PNRI appealed to President Duterte to sign an executive order seeking to tap nuclear energy as part of the country’s energy mix, as it anticipated that the Philippines may face a “crucial energy crisis” in the next few months.
Arcilla said it is about time for the country to explore and tap nuclear energy to address the impending power crisis.
“People say, can we do renewables, solar and wind, we welcome them any time. I mean I would like to have more solar and wind. But it will be unrealistic to say that the baseload needs of the country can be handled by solar and wind. To say that they can handle it, that is untrue.” he said.
“Even Meralco has said recently in public that they are open to nuclear simply because the caseload, then by the way we are growing at five and a half to 6 percent per year which means the demand for electricity will be increasing as we go on, napakaurgent po talaga (this is very urgent). Before we know it, it will become a topic for the election and it is a situation presenting itself.”