Energy Conservation Campaign to address El Niño in 5 cities

• Source: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/davao/business/2015/10/16/energy-conservation-campaign-address-el-nino-5-cities-436237
• Saturday, October 17, 2015

By Ace June Rell S. Perez

A FIVE-part information, education campaign on energy is set in five key cities in Mindanao this November by the Mindanao Development Authority (Minda) in partnership with the Department of Energy (DOE), Energy Regulation Commission (ERC) and the Association of Mindanao Rural Electric Cooperatives, Inc. (Amreco).

The campaign is aimed at educating and informing the public on energy conservation and impact of El Nino to the Mindanao power sector. The five key cities identified by organizers are the cities of Pagadian, Davao, General Santos City, Cagayan de Oro, and Butuan.

“It will be a multi-sectoral campaign to be attended with consumers, electric cooperatives, Local Government Units (LGUs), students and other stakeholders,” Glenn Jay Reston, Minda-Technical staff said in an interview with Sun.Star Davao Thursday.

The campaign will kick off in Pagadian City on November 6, Davao City (November 10), Gensan (12), CDO (24), and will end in Butuan (26).

“Basically, with the campaign that we will be staging, we will enlighten the minds of the public that even with the presence of El Nino, there is no significant impact to the power situation in Mindanao,” he added. Bryan Diosma, Mindanao Power Monitoring Committee (MPMC) technical head for his part said that with the entry of the fossil-based and renewable energy projects in Mindanao, the island is in a better position to push through with stable power supply amid the drought. "For Mindanao, we are looking at a better position, this is because of the entry of the committed power plants," he said.

However, he emphasized that the challenge here is if the committed power projects will not come in as schedule.