Quick, long-term power solutions for Mindanao urged

Manila Bulletin  
Published: June 3, 2013 Mindanao needs a concrete plan of action, both short- and long-term to address the power shortage, and the business sector is ready to cooperate, the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) said in a statement.
Suffering from severe revenue losses, the business sector of Mindanao represented by PCCI’s Mindanao chambers is calling the attention of government to accelerate the development and implementation of doable quick fixes and long-term solutions that will finally provide sustainable and reliable energy to the region.
PCCI Vice President for Mindanao, Ricky Juliano said that the power shortages have resulted to server revenue losses for enterprises and industries including delayed production operations, cancellation of transactions, low production output and partial labor lay-offs.
As a quick-fix alternative to the use of modular generator sets proposed by government, PCCI is proposing to optimize available capacity. For example, of the 651 MW diesel power plants in Mindanao, only about 143 MW is being dispatched to the grid. Another source is from the sugar mills in Bukidnon that can provide 60-75 MW of reliable baseload power during a 5-month off-season (May-October) and at least a third of that during 7-month milling season (November-May).
PCCI Vice President for Energy, Mr. Jose Alejandro said “The program of putting most of those diesel-fuelled plants and biomass would not take more than 12 months, if implemented with urgency. In effect, the power supply shortfall in Mindanao would be dramatically reduced to a minimum in 12 months or less.”
On the demand side, PCCI said it has been encouraging its members and allied enterprises and industries to transfer their operations hours to off-peak hours and for malls to start running their generators even while the interruptible load program (ILP) has yet to be fully implemented. Juliano reported that under the leadership of the Oro Chamber, the ILP has been successfully implemented in Cagayan de Oro.
In the long-term, PCCI urged government start the pre-development of Pulangi 5, Bulanog and Agus 3 Hydro Projects to address long-term energy requirements at reasonable cost, given the fact that these are indigenous, renewables, clean and green, which can save the country from foreign exchange on energy imports.
Additionally, PCCI said it will continue to pursue initiatives to improve the framework for investing in power generation in Mindanao. These include the creation of an entity that would monitor and ensure that distribution utilities (DUs) and electric cooperatives (ECs) follow the load-to-maintain policy and providing technical assistance to ECs to pursue demand aggregation, negotiate as a group to draw up a competitive price and sign long-term power supply agreements (PSAs).
Expressing concern on the impact of revenue losses to ECs that could disrupt the entry of investments in power generation in Mindanao, Alejandro said, “We need not raise the negative impact of this power situation on business and peace and the inclusive drive of our economic leaders.”
He added, “If the situation is not arrested and addressed soonest, this could greatly damage the balance sheets and cash flows of the electric cooperatives and other distribution utilities, which could have a much longer lasting negative financial and political impact on the administration’s economic program and the industry as a whole.”   source