The Philippine Star 07/25/2006
The government is expected to draw up clearer rules on cross-ownership in the power sector, the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) said.
In a statement, PSALM said the economic managers have recognized the need for the adoption of lucid rules on cross-ownership with the forthcoming sale of generation assets by both the government and private companies.
"We are aware that we cannot totally eliminate cross-ownership. But we hope to avoid the creation of groups with enough market power to dictate the price of electricity in their respective grids," PSALM said.
This year, PSALM is scheduled to bid out the 25-year concession of the National Transmission Corp. (TransCo) and five asset packages of hydro and geothermal plants with a total capacity of 1,157 megawatts (MW) capacity.
PSALM has announced it would re-bid the 600-MW Calaca and the 600-MW Masinloc upon official termination of the contract with winning bidder YNN who failed to deliver the upfront payment of $227 million. The new bidding schedule for these two coal-fired power plants has yet to be announced.
Atlanta-based energy firm Mirant Philippines is also planning to transfer ownership of its interest in about 2,000 MW of generating capacity.
According to PSALM, the economic managers believed the ongoing divestments in the power sector should not lead to the consolidation of market power.
"They also encouraged private investors to put up new power generating facilities, particularly in areas where the power supply situation is getting tight," PSALM said.
Except for missionary electrification projects, PSALM also noted that government-owned National Power Corp. (Napocor) is no longer developing new facilities.
"Clear rules on cross-ownership would provide an assurance to the millions of electricity consumers that their interests are amply protected," the economic managers said. "These measures are meant to enhance competition and ultimately bring down the price of electricity in the Philippines."
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The Philippine Star 07/25/2006
The Department of Energy (DOE) is urging all oil industry players to stop making unnecessary objections to the Biofuels Bill.
"I urge the stakeholders in the downstream oil industry to come up with positive actions by supporting the Biofuels Bill for the sake of the consuming public especially now that prices of oil in the international market are becoming extremely expensive," Energy Secretary Raphael P.M. Lotilla said.
"Instead of opposing what is good for the economy, we urge our stakeholders to rally behind us in advocating the passage of the Biofuels Bill to realize our goal of becoming energy self sufficient, Lotilla said.
He said the government, for its part, has already played its role in coming up with possible measures to help mitigate the impact of rising oil prices.
"DOE has laid down the foundation for the roll out of government’s alternative fuels program, which has accelerated the use of biofuels, in particular, bioethanol and home-grown coco-biodiesel," he said.
Aside from the passge of the Biofuels Bill, the DOE is also pushing for the Renewable Energy Bill. These two crucial pieces of legislations would help realize energy self-sufficiency, Lotilla said.
"With the volatility of prices of imported petroleum products brought about by the geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, both the Biofuels Bill and RE Bill will help us further lessen our dependence on imported oil as well as help address air quality management and respond to climate change," the energy official said.
Lotilla said the country’s lawmakers have committed to prioritize these bills. "Congress is committed to enact these two pieces of legislations as both are critical to help minimize our economy’s exposure to price instability of imported fuels and I am confident approval will be expedited upon resumption of Congress." Lotilla said.
While imported energy accounted for 42.9 percent of total energy use in 2005, it is expected to decrease to 38.5 percent in 2014 based on the Philippine Energy Plan. The RE Bill is expected to allow the country to meet its growth in energy demand from renewable energy sources as well as increase the share of renewable energy in the country’s primary energy mix from 41.7 percent in 2005 to 42.4 percent in 2010.
"As of last year, we successfully utilized locally sourced fuel to power 64 percent of our electricity needs by maximizing the use of indigenous and renewable energy capacity," Lotilla said.
A number of achievements have likewise boosted the development of renewable energy. For instance, the country’s action plan in the development of renewable energy was cited as one of the best three action plans worldwide in the 2004 International Conference for Renewable Energies in Bonn, Germany. The Philippines was joined by China and Egypt.
"Apart from the fact that both the Biofuels Bill and the RE Bill can help minimize our economy’s exposure to price fluctuations of imported fuels, we are also one with all the environmental groups in advocating policies that would protect our environment", Lotilla said.
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The Philippine Star 07/24/2006
The National Transmission Corporation (TransCo) is speeding up efforts to replace its wooden transmission line poles with steel poles to increase line reliability and significantly lessen the probability of line outages especially during strong typhoons.
TransCo president Alan T. Ortiz said as of end-June, the company has already erected 1,598 new steel pole replacements.
Of the total, 487 were put up in North Luzon, 370 in South Luzon, 460 in Visayas and 281 in Mindanao.
The steel poles, which measure between 50-65 feet, are made of galvanized material that can withstand drastic weather changes. Aside from being much more durable than wood poles, the galvanized steel poles are also longer by 10 feet, an attribute that adds to the distance or safety clearance between the lines and the ground.
"This makes steel poles much safer than wood poles," the TransCo official said.
According to Ortiz, the second delivery of steel poles totaling 2,800 is expected by August this year.
Ortiz said with the rising prices of the imported wood poles, they now cost almost the same as steel poles. Hence, TransCo is shifting to steel and other metal-based line suspension poles.
"Steel poles are more durable and require less regular inspection and maintenance. TransCo will be having more and more of these steel pole line sections that are more reliable as we continue with the replacement program," he added.
TransCo is planning to put in place almost 60,000 steel poles throughout the country in 10 years.
The state-owned transmission firm started implementing the P600-million steel pole program in 2003 to modernize its electricity transmission assets nationwide.
The replacement of aging wood poles with new steel poles is in line with TransCo’s zero outage program which aims to significantly minimize or prevent outages in areas covered by the transmission firm.
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The Philippine Star 07/24/2006
The National Transmission Corp. (TransCo) has sold another sub-transmission assets in Ilocos Norte.
TransCo president Alan T. Ortiz signed last July 21 a divestment contract with Ilocos Norte Electric Cooperative Inc. (INEC) board president Lorenzo Rey G. Ruiz to effect the sale of 53.33 circuit kilometers of sub-transmission lines in the province.
"Today, we have reached another milestone in our program to divest our sub-transmission assets. This is our 27th divestment contract and the first in the Ilocos region," Ortiz said.
"The sale is expected to further boost the services of INEC, thus ensuring the further economic development of Ilocos Norte, which is truly endowed with abundant resources and an attractive investment area in the northern part of the country," he said.
INEC’s service area covers the whole of Ilocos Norte composed of Laoag City, 22 municipalities, and 557 barangays with 116,742 house connections.
The divestment contract with INEC, valued at P94.1 million payable in 20 years, involves five sub-transmission lines, all rated at 69 kilovolts. These are the Curimao-San Nicolas, San Nicolas-Laoag, Laoag-Sarrat, Sarrat-Marcos, and Sarrat-Piddig lines.
The recent divestment brought the total sales of TransCo’s STAs at over P1.5 billion comprising 9,256 structures and spanning 1,048 circuit kilometers.
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The Philippine Star 07/24/2006
Flying V, one of the country’s most aggressive oil players, has submitted to the Board of Investment (BOI) an application for tax incentives for its proposed P800-million ethanol project in the town of Mariveles, Bataan.
Macky Lopez, Flying V spokesman, said they would start tapping interested investors for the said 60,000-liter per day ethanol refinery.
Lopez said the company is committed to put up the ethanol plant and plans are now being finalized for the construction of the said ethanol facility.
"Even as we wait for the passage of the BioFuels Law still pending, we at Flying V continue to support the government’s alternative fuels program. We hope foreign investors will partner with us in this endeavor. Export opportunities of ethanol is great," Lopez said.
The Flying V official said now is the time to shift to ethanol to lessen the country’s dependence on imported gasoline.
"At this time of high oil prices in the world market, we should intensify the use of alternative fuels especially ethanol to reduce our dependence on imported fuel," Lopez said.
Ethanol is an alternative energy resource produced from crops such as sugar, corn, grain sorghum, wheat and other agricultural feedstocks. It can be used as a transportation fuel, as a blend to gasoline, a component of reformulated gasoline, or a primary fuel with gasoline as blend.
Industry studies showed that the use of ethanol-blended fuels reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 12 to 19 percent compared to conventional gasoline. It was estimated that in 2003, ethanol use in the US reduced gas emissions at a level equivalent to removing 853,000 cars from the highways.
Flying V has already sold E10 or gasoline mixed with 10 percent ethanol. However, ethanol supply is still being imported from Brazil. Flying V has started studies on the possibility of putting up its own ethanol plant in August last year.
The government’s ethanol program aims to intensify the use of bio-fuels in the transport sector by blending a minimum of five percent bio-ethanol fuel into all gasoline-fed motor vehicles.
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