As brownouts loom in summer of 2015, DOE pushes state of emergency on power

By DANESSA RIVERA, GMA News

Published July 21, 2014 3:58pm

The Department of Energy has recommended to President Benigno Aquino III the declaration of a state of national emergency on power due to the very thin supply of electricity expected in 2015, the DOE's top official said on Monday.

Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla said consumers could expect another round of rotating brownouts in the summer of 2015 due to "very thin reserves" and delays in the operation of some upcoming power plants.

"There is an admission that by 2015 that our supply does not give us enough elbow room," Petilla told reporters after a news forum in Manila.

"It's so thin na may bumigay lang na isang 100 megawatt na plant, we can go into red alert," he added.

Based on data from the DOE, the occurence of power outages last year increased to 7.25 percent from 5.75 percent in 2012.

"There are also projects that we feel will not push through," Petilla said.

Contracting new power plants

Under such a state of national emergency, the President would have the power to address the shortage by contracting new power plants or renting modular generators.

Even before Typhoon Glenda affected much of Luzon's power grid, the DOE already recommended the President declaring a state of national emergency on power by 2015.

"In our previous meeting, he's not against it. I just have to make a case about it and explore all options," Petilla said.

"The next step is to await the economic cluster kasi hindi lang naman ito energy problem dahil ang financing nito ay manggagaling sa finance," he added.

The final decision will come from the Office of the President and Congress, but will have to come out by next month to have enough leeway to come up with the needed generating capacity, Petilla said.

Petilla said the country still had some time to come up with sufficient generating capacity, which could be sourced from modular gensets or secondhand bunker engines.

"But we're exploring other options.... We're looking depending on the cost," Petilla noted.

"To be comfortable, we're looking at 400 to 500 MW extra no later than April 2015," he said.

Early warning

At the start of the Aquino administration, former National Transmission Corp. president and CEO Alan Ortiz, warned of a power crisis due to the lack of new generating capacities while demand increased over time.

In 2010, then outgoing Energy Secretary Jose Ibazeta admitted that a power crisis might indeed happen in the absence of additional generating capacities.

While putting up renewable energy projects could help ease power concerns, Ibazeta said there was a lack of clear policy directions to cover the feed-in tariff (FIT) rates for renewable energy technology.

The FIT rates, which offer power producers guaranteed payments on a fixed rate per kilowatt-hour, was only issued in July 2012.

Meanwhile, Senator Antonio Trillanes IV blamed Department of Energy officials for their alleged inaction regarding the power crisis.

“Ang ating energy officials, kitang kita naman nila yung problema, pero wala naman silang ginagawa. Si dating Energy Secretary Rene Almendras, wala namang ginawa, kaya pinagreresign ko yan noon eh. Wala naman nangyari, walang mga plano,” Trillanes said.

Almendras, who is now the secretary to the Cabinet, was replaced by Petilla.

"Ang problema ni Petilla, dahil sa Supreme Court Writ of Amparo, di makagalaw yung mga planta. Ang maririnig mo lang mga paliwanag, kung bakit sila pumalpak. Pero yung results, wala kang makikita,” Trillanes said.

Truthful picture

In an e-mailed statement, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) said it called for the declaration of a national emergency on power even before Typhoon Glenda caused brownouts last week "so that collectively we come up with the right solutions."

"We need a truthful picture of our future power supply so that we can come up with clear strategies and coping mechanisms and avert companies shutting down and retrenchments of workers,” executive director Louie Corral was quoted as saying.

He said the TUCP would meet with various business and labor groups on Wednesday to draw up measures amid the lack of national strategy to address the looming power crisis.

"So, the TUCP, other labor groups, consumer and business organizations will meet on Wednesday with the aim of figuring out a recommendation to the government on how to minimize the impact of a full-blown power crisis precluded by prolonged rotational brownouts currently prevailing in many key areas Luzon and in Mindanao,” Corral said.

The group also recommended that the government temporarily return to the power generation business until there was sufficient supply and electricity rates are lower.

Tyrannical tendencies

However, a party-list representative representing the youth sector opposed moves to give the President emergency powers to address the energy crisis.

“With the tyrannical tendencies of the president, Congress cannot grant more powers to Mr. Aquino,” Kabataan Partylist Rep. Terry Ridon said in a separate e-mailed statement.

Ridon, a member of the House Committee on Energy, said he believes there are measures that can be done to address the energy issue without giving Aquino emergency powers.

“Besides, we should remember that the emergency power deals are responsible for the persisting high electricity rates in the country,” he added. —NB, GMA News

Tags: brownouts, powershortage, jerichopetilla