Veco sees ‘balance energy mix’ as key for growth

While more than 50 percent of the Visayan Electric Company's (Veco) power supply comes from renewable energy (RE),

Veco Chief Operating Officer Anton Perdices stressed that to provide reliable and competitively priced power, Veco has to maintain a balanced mix of generation sources.

Perdices said that RE sources lessen the country's dependence on imported fossil fuels and help mitigate the effects of climate change. “In the long term, RE is cheaper than fossil-based technologies but the initial investment into RE is high at present,” he said.

He pointed out that RE has its disadvantages. He said that some types of RE are location-specific, like geothermal and hydro. Solar and wind power farms, on the other hand, cannot provide baseload power due to reliability issues.

“A balanced mix of renewable and thermal energy sources can address the different levels and patterns of power demand in the most efficient and cost-effective way,” he said.

Veco's peak demand in 2016 was 524 MW, of which 50.47 percent come from mostly geothermal sources in the Visayas. Veco, a joint venture of AboitizPower and Vivant Corp., distributes electricity to Metro Cebu towns and cities.

Perdices joined former environment secretary Regina Lopez who gave the keynote address during the SwitchPH Renewable Energy Summit at the University of San Carlos-Talamban Campus in Cebu City held last June 29./