The Manila Times May 8, 2021
LAST week, the Department of Energy (DoE) announced that it had approved four more electricity suppliers to be part of the Green Energy Option Program (GEOP). The rapid pace at which the DoE is building the program, after it was stalled for years due to lack of attention, is remarkable and a welcome piece of good news.
GEOP complements the Retail Competition-Open Access (RCOA) program and allows users consuming at least 100 kilowatts (kW) of power to source their supply from qualified retail energy suppliers that source or generate electricity from renewables.
The basis for the program is found in Republic Act 9513, or the “Renewable Energy Act of 2008.” But with renewable energy given little priority until President Rodrigo Duterte took office, it has only been since 2017 that serious work to develop policy and programs has been carried out. The DoE was ready to roll out the GEOP last spring, issuing the guidelines for permits for renewable energy providers in April 2020, but the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic understandably further slowed things down.
Once electricity suppliers were ready, however, the DoE acted quickly; the first six renewable energy providers were approved in January of this year, with the four latest suppliers bringing the total to 10.
The approved renewable energy (RE) providers as of now include Aboitiz Energy Solutions Inc.; AC Energy Philippines Inc.; Adventenergy Inc.; Bacman Geothermal Inc.; Citicore Energy Solutions Inc.; First Gen Energy Solutions Inc.; Prism Energy Inc.; SN Aboitiz Power-Magat Inc.; SN Aboitiz Power-Res Inc.; and Sparc-Solar Powered Agri-Rural Communities Corp.
From a customer point of view, being able to choose renewable sources for electricity is probably largely social at this point; it allows the company to exercise whatever convictions it has to practice energy conservation and environmental sustainability and makes for good marketing. However, rapid developments in both RE technology and the energy market are quickly closing the gap between RE and conventional sources in terms of cost, particularly for solar energy. Within a very short period of time, perhaps even months, the cost of electricity generated from solar plants will drop below the cost from any other source and stay there. Thus, for a contestable customer who is able to choose an electricity supplier, selecting RE will soon be the most financially prudent choice, if it isn’t already.
From a broader perspective, expanding consumer options by expanding the GEOP will reduce reliance on conventional sources of power, mainly coal, and do so in a way that eliminates much of the financial risk that has historically slowed RE development because demand is already assured.
The reason why is because of the way electrical grids work; unless a customer is directly connected to the generation source, the needed power is drawn from the national grid, which is in turn supplied by all the various sources of power, no matter what type. A customer might specify power from an RE source, but the actual electrons flowing through the wires into their places of business might come from anywhere. However, the combined demand of RE customers determines how much the grid takes from RE generators as opposed to conventional sources; more demand for RE means less power is taken from comparatively more costly and polluting coal, gas or oil plants.
Under the RCOA program, the use threshold in kWh per month is steadily being reduced to allow more customers — businesses first, but eventually household consumers as well — to choose their electricity supplier. The speed at which the program is being extended is simply being moderated by the DoE to ensure that reliable supply is available to meet demand. We would urge anyone who can take advantage of the RCOA and GEOP to consider doing so. Chances are very good it will be a prudent financial decision, and it will most definitely benefit the country’s efforts to improve both our energy security and reduce our impact on the environment.
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