"The administration has worked tirelessly to make energy sufficient and accessible"
"The administration has worked tirelessly to make energy sufficient and accessible"
There will be brownouts in the coming months. It is the result of miscalculation in demand for energy, post-COVID, and assuming that the installed generating capacity of power plants will be delivered as rated. Demand went up. And the power plants were de-rated. The result is an electricity shortage, the equivalent of maybe four to five hours of brownouts in a day.
With Alfonso G. Cusi as Energy secretary, the Duterte administration has worked tirelessly to make energy sufficient and accessible to all Filipinos to enrich their lives now and in the years to come.
The results are there:
–Electrification rose from 90.7 percent in 2016 to 94.5 percent in 2020, or 3.53 million additional homes getting electricity for the first time. That leaves 1.26 million still to be provided electricity.
–In 2020, the installed generating capacity reached 26,287 megawatts (MW), up 22.70 percent from 21,424 MW in 2016.
–Dependable power generation capacity grew by 22.59 percent from 19,096 MW in 2016 to 23,410 MW in 2020.
–Mindanao’s total installed capacity in 2020 increased by 67.48 percent from 2,737 MW in 2016 to 4,584 MW while dependable capacity grew by 70.85 percent from 2,360 MW in 2016 to 4,032 MW. According to Duterte, increased power supply in Mindanao will pave the way for more economic investments and opportunities.
“The need to improve power supply in Mindanao to address power outages necessitated the adoption of a mechanism for efficient scheduling, dispatch, and settlement of energy transactions,” explains the President.
This was addressed through the WESM. As envisioned under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act, Mindanao started transitioning to an electricity spot market on June 26, 2021.
The full commercial operation of the WESM in Mindanao on July 26, 2021 will attract more power industry investors and provide power supply sustainability in the region, explains Duterte. To date, 87 participants are now registered in the WESM in Mindanao.
–Mindanao is being connected to the Visayas grid, what is called MVIP.
In July 2017, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) granted the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) provisional authority to implement the project, by December next year.
MVIP could result in reduced investments in power generation as a result of sharing of system reserves, lower number of generation plants to build in either Visayas or Mindanao, and less operating cost due to economic dispatch of generators.
–Extension of lifeline rate or subsidized electricity for poor homes by 30 years, until 2051. This is a law, RA 11552, signed on May 27, 2021.
Five million households are expected to benefit from the subsidized rate, with the majority (2.65 million households) currently located in the National Capital Region (NCR).
-The administration implemented RA no. 9513 or the Renewable Energy (RE) Act of 2008.
The Philippines has the highest RE share in the total primary energy supply among the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
— Recent policy shifts aimed to boost RE:
1. Geothermal was opened to increased foreign investments by allowing 100 percent foreign participation in large-scale geothermal projects through Financial and Technical Assistance Agreements (FTAAs).
Under the third Open and Competitive Selection Process (OCSP 3), foreign companies were allowed to participate in geothermal exploration, development, and utilization activities, so long as these were large-scale, or had a minimum investment cost of about $50 million, and were pursued under FTAA, as provided under the Philippine Constitution.
Some 22 Pre-Determined Areas (PDAs) covering potential geothermal and hydropower resources have been identified. They include 17 potential hydro projects and five geothermal projects, have a total potential capacity of about 150 MW and will be offered to RE developers deemed qualified based on the criteria set by the DOE.
2. A moratorium on the endorsement of greenfield coal-fired power plants as the country needs to move towards a more flexible power mix.
This is to help build a more sustainable and resilient power system which can accommodate new, cleaner, and indigenous technological innovations.
3. The government launched the Philippine Conventional Energy Contracting Program to facilitate the exploration and development of our indigenous energy resources and revitalize our upstream oil and gas sector.
As a result of our strong local and international promotional efforts, we received 14 applications to this program, says Duterte.
RE projects have generated P221.3 billion of investments since the implementation of the RE law in 2008.
More than half of that, around P123.5 billion, was secured from awarded RE projects in the last five years alone (2016-2020). This provided new opportunities and created gainful employment for around 550,000 Filipinos, according to the President.