THE PROPOSED trading platform for green energy would be favorable to Mindanao in the long term with several projects lined up tapping renewable power sources, according to an official of the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA). “The renewable energy market will become a market of big renewable sources if all the projects are realized,” Assistant Secretary Romeo M. Montenegro, MinDA deputy executive director, said in an interview last week. Mr. Montenegro, also the technical head of the Mindanao Power Monitoring Committee (MPMC), said they are projecting that by 2030, Mindanao will have about 40% of its power sourced from renewable energy plants. The MPMC is monitoring the implementation of about 280 proposed projects with a combined output of about 3,400 megawatts. At present, about 70% of electricity supply in Mindanao comes from fossil-fuel plants with the operation of several new coal-fired facilities. In a consultation last week in Davao City, Energy Undersecretary Felix William B. Fuentebella said they are looking at launching the renewable energy market in 2019 with the bigger wholesale electricity spot market expected to be in place nationwide this year. Under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act, supply from renewable energy sources must be the first to be dispatched in the market. — Carmelito Q. Francisco

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