Ports regulator eyes renewable energy use

The Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) is looking to work with a subsidiary of Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC) to implement a renewable energy project in all its controlled ports.

In a statement, the Department of Transportation said its attached agency PPA is pursuing the use of renewable energy in ports nationwide to reduce carbon footprint in line with the 25-year port development roadmap adopted by stakeholders in a summit held last April.

The move is also in line with the commitment of PPA to the Ambisyon Natin 2040 program or long-term vision for the country adopted by the current administration.

For the project, the PPA intends to forge a memorandum of agreement with PNOC Renewables Corp.

Under the proposed MOA, PNOCRC will provide technical expertise, as well as review and design for the best kind of renewable energy sources to be used by the PPA for the project. PNOC-RC is initially offering a guaranteed 100-kilowatt solar panel to be installed at the PPA head office.

While the solar panel is sufficient to cover at least a third of the agency’s lighting requirements, the facility will still be connected to the current electric grid system for the remaining power requirement of the office.

For its part, the PPA will determine the initial ports where the project would be implemented.

As a start, the PPA is replacing all its fluorescent, incandescent lamps and bulbs with LED or light emitting diodes lights in the corporate office building by the middle of this month.

The agency is likewise making an inventory of all streetlights from the South Harbor Expanded Port Zone, the access roads going to the control tower, as well as the PPA offices at the South Harbor and the North Harbor.

“Our international shipping counterparts have already agreed to reduce carbon emissions by a certain percentage in the next decade or so and it is only fitting to do the same in our ports,” Hector Miole, assistant general manager for operations at PPA, said.