Govt looks to LNG to avert power crisis

Manila Times.net
BY EUAN PAULO C. AÑONUEVO REPORTER

The government is banking on liquefied natural gas (LNG)-fueled generating facilities to avert a power shortage within the next two years. On the sidelines of the government’s public-private partnership (PPP) program launch, Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Jose Rene Almendras said they are looking at LNG facilities to fill the projected power generation deficiency by 2011.

“We have power already for 2013, AES [Corp.] will come in 2014 and Marubeni [Corp.’s] projects will hopefully come in 2015 to 2016. So now we’re doing evaluation for a quick fix that is not as problematic as before,” he said.

US-based AES and Japanese firm Marubeni earlier committed to expand their power plants following a spate of power outages that hit the country at the start of the year because of insufficient generating capacity.

The power companies’ additional supply would be unable to meet the 300-megawatt projected deficiency next year and another 300 megawatts in 2012.

The DOE chief said that, as such, they initially saw the rehabilitation of existing power plants as the only stop-gap solution to ward off a power crisis.

Two to three proponents have expressed interest to put up power plants that run on natural gas.
Although such plants would still take at least 24 months to put up, Almendras said that there are floating LNG facilities that could be made available.

“But the question really is, LNG is the kind of fuel that really needs good planning. We’re talking about re- gas[ification], handling the logistics. I want to make sure that we do a good job that’s why we announced it,” he said.

In line with this, the DOE secretary said the government aims to raise P250 billion for the power sector through PPP investments. Because of the sizable amount, government is looking at the private sector to 
bankroll these projects.

The amount would cover the country’s power infrastructure requirements well beyond 2030 to give more breathing room for the construction and planning of energy facilities for the future.

“The P250 billion is not just for 15 years. Our point is so that we don’t fall into the same problem that we had [before]. We need to be really more forward-looking,” Almendras said.

For the short-term, the power sector would need P83 billion to forestall the country’s looming power crisis.