Visayas Energy Plan launch faces delay

by Madelaine B. Miraflor February 4, 2016

http://www.mb.com.ph/visayas-energy-plan-launch-faces-delay/

The Department of Energy (DOE) was forced to push back anew the launch of Visayas Energy Plan after facing some delays in the drafting of the roadmap, which was targeted for implementation starting last month.

The Visayas Energy Plan, which will provide a detailed strategy on how to solve the power issues in the region, was supposed to be launched by the first week of January but the DOE failed to meet that target.

“We were able to finish drafting the supply and demand outlook but that’s not the only component of the Visayas Energy Plan. We also have to get back to the stakeholders in the region,” Energy Policy and Planning Bureau Director Jesus Tamang told Business Bulletin.

“The launch was quite behind schedule. It should have been drafted last year,” he added.

The DOE originally planned to first put in place the Visayas Energy Plan before completing the updated Philippine Energy Plan (PEP), which should be ready for presentation right after the next administration takes over.

“We are now looking to launch the Visayas Energy Plan together with the updated PEP in June,” Tamang said.

It was also Tamang who said it before that the launch of the roadmap may happen later than January because there’s still a series of consultation that needs to be done.

But former energy undersecretary Loreta Ayson insisted that it should happen as early as the first week of January.

“We will try to have one big meeting or consultation. We can do one big meeting. We will start at the end of December so we can launch the plan by the first week of January,” Ayson said in an earlier interview.

The coverage of the Visayas Energy Plan is until 2030 but it may be extended until 2050 because energy infrastructure has longer gestation period and it takes a while before new and potential investments materialize.

The DOE is looking to do the same thing for PEP, which may be extended by another 10 years.

Relaunched in 2012, PEP serves as an action plan for both the private and the public sector in order to come up with a more developed power industry by 2030. The action plan undergoes revisions and updates every year.

Tamang said that DOE is now planning to come up with the final draft of the updated PEP by June which will include some major changes like adjustments in its timetable.