Monday, April 9, 2012

Noy tosses Mindanao power woes to local execs

By Delon Porcalla (The Philippine Star) Updated April 09, 2012 12:00 AM


MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino will let local officials in Mindanao decide how to handle the power crisis at the scheduled “Power Summit” in Davao City tomorrow.


Aquino told reporters in an interview at Phnom Penh in Cambodia during last week’s 20th Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit that he will allow the local officials to choose which solution would best suit their concerns.


The choices are hydropower plants, geothermal, or the expensive solar technology, he said.


Nuclear-power plant is already out of the question, following the March 2011 tsunami-earthquake that resulted in the meltdown of nuclear plants in Fukushima, Japan.


“Any of the solutions will have a price. These are the solutions, these are the prices that will accrue, and we are not talking in peso price,” Aquino said.


Aquino noted that hydro plants also have “issues” as against geothermal which may or may not be solved instantly. He said hydro plants – perhaps the safest – might have problems in view of “changing rain patterns” or climate change, while geothermal may also have limitations.


“They (Mindanaoans) will have to decide, what is the most tolerable for them?” he asked.


Aquino said the “price on the danger of the ecology” would also be factored in, in the same way as these solutions will also have to jibe or should be sustained with the local agriculture, tourism and economic industries.


“Of course we have the extreme options. Like not adding up more generating capacity?” he added.


Aquino said he plans to give Mindanao officials a wide array of choices on how they want to solve the power problem.


Aquino is expected to be in Davao City tomorrow, deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said.


Valte said the President is scheduled to leave anytime this week, and is just awaiting the go-signal of Energy Secretary Rene Almendras and Mindanao Development Authority chairperson Lou Antonino.


Valte said all stakeholders in the power industry in Mindanao should help the national government solve the problem of power outages in the region.


She said officials should come up with a solution that will be practical and acceptable to all parties concerned.


Valte said this is what they expect when the Energy Summit is held in Davao City with Aquino presiding.


“What we expect from that meeting would be all should lay down the issues so that we could come up with a common ground for a solution to correct the problem,” Valte said.


Aquino has rejected calls from his allies in the House of Representatives for special powers to solve the power outage problem in Mindanao.


He said efforts were already made as early as 2010 but that it will take sometime to make the necessary repairs.


For one, power barges have been made available, but are hardly contracted due to cost.


Long-term solutions to the energy crisis in Mindanao are in place and there is no need to grant emergency powers to the President, Malacañang said.


Blend of energy sources


Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said Sen. Sergio Osmeña III has made clear why Mindanao is suffering from a power crisis and why residents must now pay more for electricity.


“By 2014, we already have sufficient power supply. It’s only 2012 and 2013, but those can be addressed right now with a blend of energy sources. So that’s the reason why he (Aquino) doesn’t see the need for emergency powers because in the long term, you already have those concerns addressed by 2014,” Lacierda said.


“We’re fixing the energy situation, we’re putting the power supplies. It’s just a matter of blending, at what cost will it be palatable to the people of Mindanao. So there’s a solution to that problem already and it’s a blending of costs of various sources of energy,” Lacierda said.


He added that electric cooperatives have already contracted power barges to supply additional electricity.


Osmeña said consumers in Mindanao have been “spoiled” over the last decade by subsidized power and would have to pay higher rates now that the power sector is in the “intensive care unit.”


“With respect to the power situation in Mindanao, we will be having a Mindanao summit that the President mentioned and he will be talking to the stakeholders in Mindanao,” Lacierda said.


“It’s a problem that Sen. Serge Osmeña has already outlined in his interview with the media and it shows where, what the government is doing. It also shows the cost of energy if all the sources of energy have blended in. And according to Serge Osmeña, it’s around 50 cents increase only,” Lacierda said.


Lacierda said Mindanao had been enjoying the lowest power rates because of their hydroelectric power plants, thus it was exempted from privatization under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA).


But when the Aquino administration came in, Lacierda said Secretary Almendras made an assessment about the power situation in Mindanao and met with Mindanao lawmakers.


“He (Almendras) spoke to the power producers. It was only in 2011 that new power plants were constructed,” Lacierda said. – With Paolo Romero

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