By Danessa Rivera (The
Philippine Star) | Updated March 10, 2016 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines – Natural gas
plants are now cleared to run on pure diesel in times of shortage in the supply
of natural gas to ensure energy security after the measure allowing this
flexibility has lapsed into law.
Republic Act 10745, which lapsed
into law last Feb. 26, allows natural gas power plants to use neat diesel as an
alternative fuel, exempting those facilities from the use of biodiesel as
required under the Biofuels Act of 2006.
Under the Biofuels Act, liquid fuels
for motors and engines should contain a minimum of two percent biodiesel blend.
Biofuels and natural gas are
considered as cleaner sources of fuel. Biofuels come from biological organisms
or their wastes while natural gas is formed from plants and gases buried
underground.
But under the new policy, “natural gas
power generating plants may use neat diesel as their alternative fuel during
shortages of natural gas supplies.”
In a phone interview with The STAR,
Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali said neat diesel is a cleaner form of
diesel that allows gas-fired facilities to run at optimum levels when natural
gas is not available.
“When Malampaya is under maintenance, gas
plants are run using bio-diesel, which reduces the capacity of the power plant
by 400 megawatts (MW),” he said. “if we use neat diesel, we can optimize the
operations of a power plant and not sacrificing its full output.”
To ensure compliance, the Department
of Energy (DOE) is tasked to monitor the authority granted to use neat diesel
shall only be availed of “directly or indirectly” by natural gas power plants.
The three existing natural gas
plants in the country, namely the 1,200-MW Ilijan, 1,000-MW Santa Rita and
500-MW San Lorenzo natural gas plants all located in Batangas, are critical
since these cover nearly a third of the power requirements of the Luzon grid.
The Ilijan power plant is owned by
Korea Electric Power Corp. (Kepco) through its wholly owned unit Kepco
Philippines.
Meanwhile, First Gen Corp. owns and
operates the 1,000-MW Santa Rita and 500-MW San Lorenzo natural gas plants, collectively
known as First Gas plants.
But for this particular law, Umali
said only the 1,200-MW Ilijan natural gas power plant is covered by the
exemption.
Officials of Kepco Philippines were
sought to comment on the measure but no one was available.
In a separate phone interview, First
Gen executive vice president Ernesto Pantangco said this measure will have no
effect on natural gas plants owned by the company.
“There will be no impact as First
Gas plants are designed for dual operation. We can choose which fuel, i.e.
diesel, condensate, etc., is cheaper,” he said.
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