Drilon willing to give Aquino special power to address energy problem

Senate President Franklin Drilon. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Senate President Franklin Drilon is inclined to authorize President Benigno Aquino to buy or lease power generators to avert brownouts in the summer of 2015.

Drilon said the Senate would try to craft a joint resolution with the House of Representatives granting such authority to the President before the end of the month.

“Insofar as I am concerned as a senator, yes, I am in favor of giving the administration additional authority to secure additional generating capacity,” he told reporters Friday.

The joint resolution would authorize the President to contract additional generating capacity in accordance with Section 71 of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA).

Section 71 states that Congress could allow the “establishment of additional generating capacity under such terms and conditions as it may approve.” The government is prohibited from entering into contracts for additional generating capacity.

The government is seeking authority to buy or lease facilities to generate an additional 300 megawatts to avert brownouts in 2015 but only as a “last resort,” Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla told senators.

Energy officials said they were eyeing modular generator sets.

The shortage could peak up to 800 megawatts, which could translate to seven to eight hours of rotating brownouts from March to June, as an offshoot of mild El Niño, power plant outages, and delays in the commissioning of new power plants.

The President has said a joint congressional resolution would authorize the government to contract an additional generating capacity to plug the projected 300-megawatt deficit, as well as have sufficient regulating reserves of another 330 megawatts.

According to Petilla, the additional capacity of 300 megawatts would cost the government at least P6 billion, if leased, and P10 billion, if purchased.

Drilon said he was convinced by the Department of Energy’s prognosis that the shortage could run up to 800 megawatts.

Unless staved off, the rotating brownouts would ruin the economy, and undermine the Philippines’ image as an investment destination, he said.

“We are alarmed by the projected power shortage and its impact on the economy. We recognize the need for additional generating capacity,” he said.

Citing energy department figures, Drilon said 500 megawatts could come from new plants coming on-stream and existing plants, leaving a net shortage of 300 megawatts.

“Our net shortage is 300 megawatts. That’s why we will try very hard to give the President power before the month of October ends so that the Department of Energy could purchase or rent generating sets in order to provide the necessary power supply from March to July of next year,” he said.

At the hearing by the Senate energy committee last September 25, stakeholders from the private sector said that new plants in Batangas and Ilocos Norte would come on stream, with a generating capacity of close to 400 megawatts.

But between now and March 2015, Drilon urged the government to explore parallel solutions such as the Interruptible Load Program mechanism through which private generators could offer their excess capacity to the grid.

After the first hearing on the proposed joint resolution, Senator Sergio Osmeña III, chair of the energy committee, indicated he was not inclined to grant such authority as explained by energy department officials. He said the additional capacity from new plants and players in the ILP mechanism would cover the shortage.