Business Mirror
27 Aug 2014 Written by Lenie Lectura
A LOCAL manufacturer of power generators has called on the government to include in the net-metering program all forms of energy sources to help the administration solve the anticipated power shortage in Luzon next year.
Net metering, as defined by the Energy Regulatory Commission, allows electricity end-users who are updated in the payment of their electric bills to their distribution utility (DU) to engage in distributed generation.
However, under the said program, they can only generate electricity from renewable energy sources, such as wind, solar, biomass, not exceeding 100 kilowatts. The participants can then supply electricity that they generate directly to their DU.
Roland Lorilla, president of Applied Systems Manufacturing Corp., said that a long-term solution to the country’s power shortage is to include small-scale power generation in the country’s energy portfolio.
“We must free up the market dominated by big power companies by including small investors who can generate their own power requirement and feed the excess to the grid. To do this we must allow net metering for all energy sources. We must put in place policies that make small-scale power feasible and profitable,” he said.
At the same time, he called on the government to grant incentives to owners of power generators to participate in the net-metering program so they can feed their excess power to the grid to be able to plug the supply deficiency which the Department of Energy (DOE) estimates anywhere between 300 megawatts (MW) and 500 MW in summer of 2015.
“It will de difficult to solve our energy shortage by just relying on big corporations and multinationals to build power plants. What we need to do is to completely liberalize the power-generation market to include small-scale power generation as a source of power,” Lorilla said.
DUs, such as the Manila Electric Co., should also be granted incentives because they are adversely affected by net metering program of the government, added Lorilla.
“The government must provide incentives to small scale-power projects of whatever type and energy source in the form of tax exemption for fuel and equipment. Fiscal incentives like accelerated depreciation and tax holidays make a big difference in making small power projects feasible. Government financial institutions must be mandated to provide financing for small-scale power-generation projects,” he pointed out.
The DOE earlier suggested that the government purchase or lease modular generators that could cost billions of pesos. “Why spend P6 billion to rent gensets from overseas? The government will be spending less and also get to keep the money in the country if it uses these funds to grant incentives to power generators by refunding the taxes and duties paid for the existing standby gensets when they were imported, by buying net-metering devices to feed excess power to the grid and granting other incentives like tax-free fuel and income-tax holidays,” Lorilla said.
Lorilla’s company manufactures diesel-fed generators, diesel compressor sets, lighting towers and switchgears, and electric vehicles, among others. The company was established in 1986.
Green group slams Cabinet for looming power shortage
THE Philippine Movement for Climate Justice (PMCJ) has scored Cabinet members for blaming the Supreme Court (SC) for the looming energy crisis, saying the ban on the operation of the coal-fired Redondo power plant is not the cause of the feared power shortage next year.
In August 2012, SC issued a writ of kalikasan against Redondo Peninsula Energy Inc. (RP Energy) and upheld the contention of the residents of Bataan and Zambales that the coal-fired power plant would wreak havoc on the environment.
The writ prevented the company from constructing a 600-MW plant within the Subic Bay Metropolitan Area which would have been operational this year.
Earlier this year, the DOE through the Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho L. Petilla also said they want “a bill which would fast-track the processing of permits and, if possible, no temporary restraining orders against energy projects.”
PMCJ stressed that there is nobody else to blame for the sorry energy situation than the current administration.
“Throwing the blame at the SC will not absolve the government of its culpability,” PMCJ National Coordinator Gerry Arances said. “The decision of the SC merely reflected the will of the people that are against coal. The writ was reflective of the people’s stand against this government’s push for increased dependence on coal.”
Under the Aquino administration, permits granted to coal-mining projects have nearly doubled, from 39 coal operating contracts in 2007 to 71 COCs in 2013.
The number of approved coal plants has increased for the same period.
In addition to 17 coal plants (with 28 boilers) with a total of 5506.2- MW capacity are currently operational across the country, 25 more coal plants (with 45 boilers) of up to 9,054-MW capacity have been approved as of mid-2014 (committed and indicative) and railroaded for final construction by 2020.
This is up from 17 coal plants (with 29 boilers) with 4,584 MW approved in less than a year ago. This is in addition to another 12 more coal plants with 2,480-MW capacity proposed in the same year.
“From the very start, the Power Development Planning of the government was already flawed. It failed to provide the people a meaningful participation in the decision-making. It did not provide a mechanism that would give the people an avenue to confront the government in the event that the people felt that their choices are not reflected in government decisions.” Arances added.
PMCJ believes that the act of throwing the blame onto the Judiciary is part of the grand design of the administration to circumvent democratic processes, to blunt the will of the people, and to discredit legal measures that support the people’s choice.
“This crusade is led by none other than Secretary Petilla, supported fully by President Aquino himself, to prepare the way for the exercise of emergency powers,” Arances claimed.
The government should apply the lessons it learned at the DOE-sponsored Panay Multi-Sectoral Development Planning (MSPDP) process in 2004.
MSPDP was initially created to address the power crisis and growing concerns on the environmental impacts of power plants which resulted to a transparent process designed to provide people’s participation in the industry’s priority-setting process.
The Panay MSPDP must be replicated as it was efficient in demonstrating that a grassroots process can have the technical rigor practiced by the corporate sector or the state in energy management.
“Furthermore, considering that renewable energy law [RE law] has been in effect since 2008 and the negotiations on the RP Energy projects began in 2011, the government already had three years to fulfill its mandate to allow the increase of RE share in generating capacity. Had the government been diligent in pushing coal and enforcing the RE law, that puts RE as a preferred energy choice. The energy supply in Luzon would have been sustained without the Redondo coal plant. In its own study and RE program, the DOE puts the RE potential of the country at a high level. Even without solar power, the country has 200,000 MW of potential renewable energy sources,” Arances argued.
“The people must not be deprived of their right to participate in government affairs and their preferred choice of accessible and affordable clean, renewable energy,” Arances concluded. source
With Marvyn Benaning
No comments:
Post a Comment