posted April 13, 2016 at 11:25 pm by Alena Mae S. Flores
The Philippine Solar Power Solar
Alliance on Wednesday asked the Energy Department to exercise prudence in
disqualifying completed solar projects from the feed-in tariff system.
PSPA president Tetchie Capellan said
the government should recognize the role of solar energy in adding capacity to
the national grid and in averting possible blackout.
“The alliance asks the DoE for
prudence in disqualifying completed solar projects. These companies
poured billions of pesos into solar projects and their possible
disqualification from the RE [renewable energy] incentives not only
denies the investors the opportunity to recover their capital. More
importantly, it kills the momentum created by the DoE and erodes investors’
confidence,” Capellan said.
The department is now evaluating the
projects that can avail of the P8.69-per-kilowatt-hour FIT rate for the second
batch of solar projects that were able to meet the March 15, 2016 deadline.
Capellan said as the government
achieved overwhelming success with the 750-megawatt solar installation, it
should encourage policy-makers in finding a common ground to recognize solar
companies that reached 80-percent electro-mechanical completion and delivered
electricity to the grid.
“There is already an admission
from national authorities and utility distribution companies on the tightness
of supply. Undeniably, the contribution of 750-MW solar energy in the
daytime when demand is at its peak, cannot be ignored. The 750 MW solar
provided more security to the grid, averted a possible supply shortage as well
as delivered economic benefits to the consumers and the rural economy,” she
said.
Capellan, a former Agriculture
undersecretary, said “that long-term planning and immediate action forestall
possible crises in the future.”
She said an independent study
conducted by The Lantau Group projected a gradual increase in oil prices to $60
per barrel by 2018 and $100 per barrel by 2020.
According to the study, building
solar power plants with as much as 2,000-MW capacity in Luzon and the Visayas
by 2018 would reduce fuel costs, generate savings of as much as 8 percent and
effectively cut consumers’ burden from high electricity rates in the medium
term.
“Such findings make a compelling
case for government to accept all the 750-MW combined capacity of solar power
plants and provide incentives to those that delivered solar energy,” she said.
The department called for the
participation of solar companies in 2014 to ensure adequate power supply.
It applied a build-first scheme. Close to 50 companies, with a
combined capacity of 2,000 MW, were granted solar service contracts to develop
and build solar power plants.
Capellan said that based on the
latest industry count, more than 20 projects, with varying sizes, recorded an
installed capacity of over 700 MW.
She said all these projects reached
80 percent electro-mechanical completion. The group said billions of pesos
worth of private capital were spent to build these clean energy infrastructure.
“Solar plants employed as much as
3,000 people per site for the installation work. As a labor-intensive
construction activity, the employment opportunities helped rural communities
improve their lives,” she said.
PSPA also asked the government to
provide the industry with a win-win solution in consideration to the huge funds
poured in the countrysides.
“More importantly, solar power
plants today averts the power crisis. It also hedges the inevitable increase in
oil prices, and effectively reduce the consumers’ burden. The entry of solar
balances the environment impact of fossil-fuel-dependent power plants as well
as contributes to the national agenda of reducing greenhouse gas emissions,”
she said.
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