By Alena Mae S. Flores Posted on Jan. 31, 2013 at 12:01am
Meralco on Thursday said Luzon will experience tightness in power supply between now and 2016 unless more power plants are built to meet demand amid a projected strong economic growth.
Meralco chairman Manuel Pangilinan said, “We do need more power plants in the country. The margin of safety in Luzon is very very tight. And unless we start up our oil-fired plants, (we may) experience brownout in Luzon.”
He spoke at the Philippine Investments Summit even after the Philippine Independent Power Producers Association already urged the government to prepare for the increased demand due to the strong economy.
The power outlook for Luzon came after Mindanao was buffeted by recurring brownouts last year.
Meralco president Oscar Reyes, for his part said that under a “tight supply scenario,” the Luzon grid may suffer brownouts if a 600 MW to 1,200 MW unexpectedly goes offline.
“If the oil-fired power plants have to fill in the tightness that will influence the price (of electricity),” he said.
Reyes said that in anticipation of this “tightness” and ensure adequate power supply, Meralco, through the Meralco PowerGen Corp., is already planning to build 2,880 megawatts of new capacity in the long-term.
“We are trying to put in place our own generation portfolio. The first is RP Energy of 600 MW which the Luzon grid really needs to come in by 2016,” he said.
PIPPA, the association of the country’s independent power producers, comprised of the country’s biggest power players, said last week that government should assure sufficient, reliable and competitively-priced power in anticipation of increase investments in the country.
PIPPA, in a statement, cited the reports of the Philippine economy beating forecasts and further expectations of accelerated growth which required adequate, reliable and competitively-priced power supply.
PIPPA president Ernesto Pantangco said the government should take advantage of the momentum signalled by the latest gross domestic product figures and the historic highs in the Philippine Stock Exchange.
The country’s GDP has been forecasted at over 6 percent to 7 percent this year.
“Given the latest developments, it is already necessary to put up the necessary infrastructures that will secure the continuous supply of electricity,” Pantangco said.
Building reliable, adequate and competitively-priced power supply provided by baseload power plants are the key to meeting the country’s energy supply needs while keeping prices stable especially for power-intensive industries, he said. source
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