THE Joint Congressional Power Commission (JCPC) appealed to power generators and large businesses on Monday to implement voluntary Interruptible Load Program (ILP) in preparation for power shortage in the summer of 2015.
Mindoro Oriental Representative Reynaldo Umali, chairman of the House committee on energy, said government agencies, particularly the Department of Energy (DOE), will coordinate with distribution utilities (DUs) and large businesses to discuss the proposal.
“The ILP is a voluntary program whereby businesses such as malls and factories that have their own generators can be disconnected from the power grid in times of short supply, and can sell any excess power they generate to distributors,” Umali said.
He said the general consensus is that the projected power capacity deficit in 2015 can be adequately addressed in the short-term by the implementation of an expanded ILP.
“Meralco (Manila Electric Company) confirmed that there is around 1,900 megawatts of self-generating facilities that can be tapped, not just 11 MW as initially estimated by DOE,” Umali said.
Based on established protocols, ILP is implemented during a red alert status (minimal power reserve) upon the notice of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) and the distribution utilities informing ILP participants to deload from the grid.
The lawmaker said the aggregate demand for power from the system will be reduced to a more manageable level, helping ensure the availability of supply during the summer season if the ILP is implemented.
Players in private sector are willing to participate in the program even without the energy crisis provision “for as long as they are properly compensated," Umali said.
“The compensation cost per Meralco's record is P650,000 per ILP participant de-loading 10 MW for 10 hours in a month or around P18.6 million for 115 MW or around P81 million for 500 MW over 2 and a half month period during summer 2015. This translates to about P0.52 per consumer consuming 200kW/h a month per ILP participant,” he said.
A news report showed that among those that have signed an ILP agreement with Meralco include Megaworld, Ayala Land, Robinsons Land, Shangri-La Mall, SM Prime Holdings, Metro Gaisano and Waltermart.
Umali said the commission will ask the National Government to subsidize the P81 million for 500 MW for over two and a half month period during summer 2015 through the Malampaya fund.
The DOE anticipates Luzon to face a supply shortfall of about 400 MW to 500 MW by summer next year.
Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla has said the projected demand by 2015 is 9,011 MW, which is higher than this year’s actual demand of 8,717 MW, owing to the massive economic expansion and development in the country.
However, Petilla, in a news report, said he is still worried at the moment since most of the power firms are hesitant to participate in the ILP.
Even if the ILP rates are increased, Petilla said some business groups maintained they would not join due to their own power requirements for their facilities.
He also expressed belief that the ILP could prevent President Benigno Aquino III from asking for emergency powers.
"We want to remain this as voluntary for the participants but as a last resort, if they will not cooperate in the plan the House of Representatives would be willing to support granting the president an emergency power to make ILP mandatory for those that are not willing to participate," Umali said.
The committee will conduct another meeting next week to discuss long-term solutions to the power shortfall. (Sunnex)