Meralco pursuing green energy
July 1, 2019The recent announcement of Meralco’s new president and CEO Atty. Ray Espinosa on plans to invest in 1,000 megawatt (MW) of renewable energy (RE) projects is unexpected but certainly a laudable development.
Consumers are the first to feel the impact of rapid modernization and the unavoidable impact to the environment. The government, for its part, has encouraged the development of renewable energy to complement a balanced mix of energy sources to meet the country’s fast-growing demand for electricity but the additional cost to consumers because of the Feed in Tariff (FIT) which subsidizes RE generation companies is a wrong burden to consumers.
Atty. Espinosa’s statement that Meralco will develop large-scale RE projects “without any requirements for subsidy of support” at competitive rates may be a game changer in the RE sector and sends a strong message to RE companies now benefitting from FIT.
We have always supported the entry of more qualified investors to build more power plants to avert an economically disastrous energy crisis and ensure a stable supply in an environment of healthy competition.
We hope that the big power generation players will seriously consider similar initiatives that will unburden government and most important consumers of costly subsidies for renewable energy.