THE Senate has approved on third and final reading a joint resolution granting President Benigno Aquino III special powers to address a potential power shortage this summer.
Senator Sergio Osmeña III, chairman of the committee on energy and the sponsor of Senate Joint Resolution 12, said the measure would authorize the President to address the projected imbalance of power supply and demand in the Luzon grid, particularly in the months of April and May.
He said the resolution proposed “a more efficient way to solve the power crisis in a much cheaper way” than what the Palace earlier recommended.
He said the President would not be given blanket authority under the resolution nor would his actions be exempted from existing laws such as the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act.
“The resolution is not mandatory and would enable production from hydro and gas plants to be tweaked,” Osmeña said.
Senate President Franklin M. Drilon, author of the resolution, said that it was important for the country to avert a critical electricity situation due to the expected effects of the El Nino phenomenon, the 2015 Malampaya turnaround and continuing outages of power plants, which could affect both businesses and ordinary homes.
“If we did not act, then it would have been a great inconvenience and grave disservice to our citizens, especially ordinary Filipinos who will have to endure the summer season without electricity,” he said.
Drilon said that the resolution was part of efforts “to establish a clear energy agenda and to address the growing concern over the perceived inability of the country’s power sector to keep up with the growing demand that is intricately linked to the Philippine economy’s immense economic growth.”
While the average electricity demand was projected at 8,700 megawatts (MW), Osmeña said, the highest demand of power on the hottest day and hour in April and May would peak at 9,000 MW.
“Having 9,000 MW guarantees a brownout since a certain number of power plants break down while some go on scheduled maintenance because no power plant could operate continuously the entire year,” Drilon said.
The House version of the bill included the suspension of pertinent laws, rules and regulations and made it mandatory for self-generating facilities to participate in the Interruptible Load Program (ILP), a provision not found in the Senate version.
Under the ILP, owners of generating sets would be asked to run them during periods in which demand is greater than supply.
Osmeña said the adoption of the ILP would cost consumers a low P7 to P8 per kilowatt an hour as compared to the P35 per kilowatt an hour under a Department of Energy proposal to lease 300 MW in generator sets at a cost of P6 billion for two years or P10 million per MW.
“In this manner, up to 1,400 megawatts may be de-loaded for a few peaking hours on certain days,” he said.
He said Mindanao and Cebu had adopted the ILP system since 2010 due to the chronic electricity shortages in the areas.
The Senate on Monday also approved a bill on third and final reading to exempt power plants from the mandatory implementation of the Biofuels Act of 2006.
Osmeña said Senate Bill 2622, which would augment power supply when the Malampaya natural gas experiences supply shortages, would allow natural gas plants to use pure or neat diesel as an alternative fuel.
“The Biofuels Act mandates the use of biodiesel. Pure diesel cannot be utilized anymore anywhere in the Philippines, and since the power plants were built before Congress passed the Biofuels Act in 2006, they are not geared to deal efficiently with biodiesel, which clogs their filters,” he said.
Osmeña said an exemption from the Biofuels Law would allow the Ilijan gas plant owned by the Korea Electric Power Co. to deliver 160 megawatts more.
Under the measure, the exemption can only be invoked when there is a shortage as determined by the Energy Department.