Business Mirror
WEDNESDAY, 21 SEPTEMBER 2011 20:50 PAUL ANTHONY A. ISLA / REPORTER
MEMBERS of the several chambers of commerce in Mindanao on Wednesday appealed to the government to review the targets it has set for solar-based power generation plants.
“Considering the benefits of solar power, we request President Aquino and the Department of Energy [DOE] to consider increasing the solar-capacity targets, especially for Mindanao,” the chambers said in a position paper.
Among the available renewable-energy (RE) resources, the chambers said solar-power technology has proven to be fastest to deploy based on the experiences of several countries that adopted large-scale solar technology for utility applications.
For instance, the chambers said a 70-megawatt (MW) solar power plant in Italy was commissioned in only seven months.
Since at least 50 percent of Mindanao’s energy needs are currently supplied by hydropower plants, the chambers said solar power will immediately address the current capacity shortage and effectively complement the hydropower plants, notably during the dry seasons.
“A few centavos may be added due to the addition of RE. However, this is far below the rate impact experienced in the past, even if there were no new capacities added to the grid,” the chambers said.
They added that numerous power summits were held in the past ostensibly to address Mindanao’s power problems but no power plant has come on stream in the region despite these initiatives.
The chambers said people of Mindanao demands concrete plans and directions to address Mindanao’s capacity shortage problems. “Mindanao cannot afford to bleed economically for the next two to three years. Thus, power plant capacities in the grid must be immediately augmented,” they added.
Based on National Renewable Energy Board figures, the chambers said adding 760 MW of RE plants eligible for the proposed feed-in tariff (FIT) will result at a rate of only 10.5-centavos per kilowatt-hour (kWh) with solar power contributing only P01.14-centavo per kWh.
The chambers said the FIT rate impact is less than the P0.50-centavo-per kWh additional electricity payments experienced by the people of Mindanao at the height of a power shortage last year.
Solar electricity production matches the daytime peak in Mindanao so it could fill in for oil-fired power plants or enable large hydropower plants to store and reserve water for the night time peak, resulting to savings in generation costs, the chambers added.
Since most solar power plants are embedded in the distribution networks, solar power plants can mitigate transmission constraints in the grid and avoid transmission costs, they said.
While the proposed solar FIT is P17.95 per kWh, the chambers said the rate impact is only P01.14 centavos per kWh at 50-MW peak solar capacity installed when solar electricity generation is mixed with the other generating plants in the country.
The chambers said consumers will be billed only P01.14 centavo per kWh much less than the P17.95 per kWh rate, which shall form part of the Feed-in Tariff Allowance.
As this developed, Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras reiterated DOE’s RE thrusts in solar-power generation is consistent with the program laid down by President Aquino.
Almendras, who is currently in Brunei to attend the Asean Energy Meeting, issued the statement in light of reports alleging that RE may not be as bright a prospect as it is envisioned to be.
He explained there are available technologies that are now ready for implementation as he vowed to push for the implementation of an RE program, factoring in available technologies and inherent economic and technical characteristics that must be applied to specific local realities.
“There are also primary economic considerations which require that we pace our RE programs learning from the difficulties experienced by other countries,” he said.
RE continues to be one of the investment spots for power generation in the country.
The DOE recently launched the National Renewable Energy Program (NREP), which marked the country’s continued pursuit for energy security through the utilization of RE resources.
The NREP is intended be a program anchored on the broader context of indigenous energy resource development as espoused in the Philippine Energy Plan (PEP) and the Energy Reform Agenda (ERA).
DOE emphasized the need for the NREP in the context of national RE targets and trajectories in the country’s energy and power mix for the short and long-term period. “The NREP is envisioned to also establish a framework for existing and planned policies for the promotion of RE and a road map which will guide efforts toward actualizing the market penetration targets of each RE resource in the country,” DOE said.
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