PCCI calls for more base-load facilities

Manila Times.net

The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) on Wednesday said the government should expedite the development of base load power plants instead of pushing for renewable energy use in the country.

“The technology for solar, wind and ocean power and even biomass are still in early development stages. The energy produced from these will be a multiple of the current average grid rate of P4.50 per kWh [kilowatt-hour]. What we need now are base load plants, and with some sense of urgency,” Francis Chua, PCCI president, said in a statement.

Chua said the country already sources 3,291 megawatts (MW) from hydroelectric power plants, 1,953 MW from geothermal power plants, and 64 MW from renewable energy sources—which on aggregate comprises 34.01 percent of the renewable energy power mix nationwide.

“The challenge is to determine how much more of renewable energy plants the country needs or should install to meet the goal of power security or self sufficiency and competitiveness,” he said.

The businessman said the Department of Energy and the National Renewable Energy Board’s decision setting the installation capacity for renewable energy plants at 790 MW can be described as “wise, deliberate and judicious.”

“790 MW total should be sufficient enough to determine the viability of the proposed FiT-All [feed-in tariff allowance] rates and to allow renewable energy investors/producers to recoup their investments while maturing their technologies and expanding their operations,” Chua said.

“Progressively defining the optimal and legal requirement of installed generating capacity from renewable energy technologies, particularly as they are still in the development stages, also ensures that end-users are protected from undue costs once the FiT-All kicks in,” Jose Alejandro, PCCI energy chairman, said.

“The PCCI is endorsing the locational approach as the next step. This approach provides for the identification of specific strategic locations where renewable sources can best be used and developed. From here, the minimum aggregate capacity per location is then determined and the required technology development and reporting requirements for the identified technology/technologies are specified,” Chua said.

“This approach allows for better monitoring of the contribution and progress of each renewable energy source, which in turn forms the basis for the rates that warrant their contribution and benefit to the system,” he said.

The businessman said the locational approach should be implemented in coordination with the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP), which operates the country’s transmission system.

“This is in the light of synergizing them with what the current NGCP systems can take and what required ancillary services are already in place so that no other additional cost other than the forthcoming FiT-All charge is imposed on the consumers,” Alejandro said.
BEN ARNOLD O. DE VERA