House expected to OK emergency powers for Aquino

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr.: No hurdles. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / LEO M. SABANGAN II

MANILA, Philippines–The minority may offer some resistance but the House of Representatives is expected to approve by a large margin next week the grant of special powers for President Aquino to address the projected energy shortfall next year.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said he expected no hurdles in the passage of Joint Resolution 21 authorizing Aquino to generate additional generating capacity primarily by tapping the generator sets of the private sector.

“There will be some opposition but [we] expect to pass it overwhelmingly,” Belmonte said in a text message on Tuesday night.

The chamber will begin plenary debates on Monday on the emergency powers sought by the President to cope with the expected shortages in electricity supply in the summer of 2015.

The Department of Energy (DOE) earlier said such a shortfall would arise from a number of causes, including the impact of El Niño, the scheduled Malampaya natural gas facility maintenance shutdown, increased power plant outages, and anticipated delays in the commissioning of committed power plant projects.

The primary sources of additional power identified in the joint resolution are the owners of private generation sets who are participants in the Interruptible Load Program (ILP).

Under the ILP, participating companies may be called upon to voluntarily use their own power-generating units to ease demand from the grid during peak hours or during a supply deficit. They will be compensated by the government.

Other possible power sources are the interconnection of power plants, the speeding up in the construction of new power plants, and the adoption of energy conservation measures such as forcing government agencies to convert to LED lighting and air conditioners using inverter technology and solar energy use.

According to DOE projections, the maximum shortfall next year has been pegged at 1,000 megawatts with 600 MW needed as “dispatchable” reserves, and 400 MW for contingency.

One-hour brownouts per day per week for at least 15 weeks are expected during the critical period beginning in March.