Manila Bulletin
By MYRNA M. VELASCO
November 22, 2010, 7:29pmMANILA, Philippines – Japanese joint venture firm TeaM Energy Philippines is exploring prospective partnership with a local company for its proposed 15-megawatt hydropower portfolio, which it is aligning for compliance to the prescribed Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) under the Renewable Energy Law.
TeaM Energy President Federico E. Puno said one of the companies they have been discussing with is Preferred Energy Inc. (PEI), the same entity which undertook the initial feasibility studies on the proposed mini-hydro power projects.
The company official bared they are looking at three sites in Benguet, which may be able to yield 5.0-MW capacity each or for a total of 15-MW.
Relevant laws and policies in the Philippines, chiefly the 1987 Philippine Constitution, reserve the right on the exploitation of natural resources such as hydro, to Filipino companies or to entities of which 60 percent of capital is owned by local firms.
Puno said PEI has already secured pre-development contracts from the Department of Energy (DoE) for the proposed mini-hydro projects.
“We will have to piggy-back with their (PEI) existing registration with the DoE,” he added. RE development initiatives require the project proponents to seek registration and approval from the energy department.
Puno added that if based on capacity attributable to TeaM Energy, the 15MW hydropower portfolio would be roughly enough for them to comply with the RPS mandate, even if the targeted penetration level will be 10 percent.
Of the total capacity it is operating at the 1,200-MW and 735-MW Sual and Pagbilao coal-fired plants, only the excess capacity of 200-MW is attributable to TeaM Energy because the rest have already been transferred to their respective independent power producer administrators.
The energy department is still at the process of crafting the RPS rules, which shall also be a policy tie-in in estimating the final figure on the levelized feed-in-tariff.
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