A leader of the House of Representatives on Saturday urged stakeholders in the power sector to heighten efforts at increasing power supply to address power interruptions.
Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco, chairman of the House committee on energy, urged the Energy department and industry players to “act swiftly on the next round of biddings for much-needed greenfield baseload capacity.”
“We call on both public and private sector to boost such crucial government initiatives in finding ways to provide adequate supply at lower cost to the end-users,” Velasco said.
His statement came after the Manila Electric Co. finished the signing of Power Supply Agreements with several providers last September for both 1,200 megawatts and 500 megawatts contract capacities to meet its supply needs for baseload.
The PSAs were signed in line with the Energy department’s policy for distribution utilities to contract capacities through competitive selection process to be administered by a third-party bids and awards committee.
Velasco stressed the need to secure capacity now given the rising demand for power.
“Our country urgently needs additional capacity to support the [Duterte] administration’s golden age of infrastructure,” he said.
He noted “the record number of Yellow and Red Alerts that plagued Luzon grid customers this year should not be allowed to recur in the coming years.”
Velasco said that ensuring the availability of baseload capacity will benefit the consumers.
He also appealed to other DUs and electric cooperatives “to expedite their own CSPs, in strict compliance with the DoE’s CSP guidelines, to support the building of greenfield power facilities.”
“We look forward to the start of the next round of bidding for new baseload capacity, which will definitely be a welcome development, as this is aligned with the Duterte administration’s goal of bringing down the cost of electricity and ensuring a steady and continued supply of power across the country,” Velasco said.