During his first State of the Nation Address (SONA), President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos discussed about the country’s need for nuclear energy.
“I believe it is time to re-examine our strategy towards building nuclear power plants in the Philippines,” he stated.
However, instead of bringing up the revival of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP), which was his late father Ferdinand Marcos Sr.’s project, he mentioned that “there have been new technologies developed that allow smaller scale modular nuclear plants and other derivations thereof.”
In addition to this, Marcos also insisted on the need to build new power plants.
“At present, our demand for energy far exceeds our reliable supply. We must increase the level of energy production and look at every possible option that would be appropriate for the Philippine situation,”he said.
These power options are windmill and solar power. The president was all for it as these sources of power are very much perfect for the country’s setting, most especially the latter.
“We have already begun windmill power, and we are now expanding very quickly our solar power production,” Marcos said.
“Because unlike wind power, solar power is practical almost everywhere in the Philippines all year round. In the move to lowering our carbon footprint caused by energy production, our advancement to renewables will have a lead time,” he said.
Overall, the goal of the current administration is to be able to lessen the household cost of electricity all throughout the country.
“All this in aid of reducing energy cost especially but not limited to households,” President Marcos said.