The Department of Energy (DOE) is batting for a flexible energy mix based on the country’s power requirements to foster competition as well as maintain an adequate and reliable electricity supply.

Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said the agency has formed an energy mix comprising of 70 percent baseload, 20 percent mid-merit and 10 percent peaking, instead of setting a cap per technology.

Baseload power plants can provide the minimum level of demand in a power grid over 24 hours while mid-merit plants are those that can fill the gap between baseload and peaking plants which run during peak hours.

“What we see is we want it to be competitive so we’re not putting a quota per technology,” Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said despite calls from the industry to come out with energy mix policy soon to direct power developers to invest in specific technologies.

Under such scenario, each technology will compete with each other and therefore bring down the cost of electrictiy, Cusi said.

This leaves the decision to power developers on which technology they will be investing in as long as they meet the country’s power requirements.

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