Lawmaker lauds review of RE Law

MANILA, Philippines - A review of the Renewable Energy Act or Republic Act 9513 is proving to be effective in increasing the country’s energy self-reliance, according to a report of the House of Representatives committee on energy chairman and Mindoro Rep. Rey Umali.

“The RE Act is presently experiencing remarkable progress with the recent passage of the net-metering guidelines and last year’s establishment of the feed-in-tariff (FIT) rates. The country’s rates is deemed to be one of the lowest globally, the FIT per kilowatt-hour set in the Philippines are P9.68 for solar power, P8.53 for wind; P5.90 for run-of-river hydroelectric power and P6.63 for biomass,” the report noted.

He said RE companies are now positioning themselves in the new markets to push their investments forward.

“As of last month, the DOE issued Certificate of Conversion under FIT nomination to various RE developers with committed projects of a total of 633.5 megawatts (MW). The bulk of these projects are wind (339.5 MW) and solar (80 MW) projects,” the report said.

With the projects in the pipeline, the report said that solar projects are expected to feed into the grid by 2014 and the wind projects by 2015.

On top of the projects that were issued COCs, there are still pending applications of 74 RE projects for nomination to the FIT scheme. These pending projects have a total combined capacity of 726 MW.

Umali earlier trumpeted the gains of Mindoro in attracting RE investors to set up shops in the province.

“There is a lot of interest in investing in Mindoro now. We want to develop it into a green paradise. For now, we would develop Mindoro as RE hub of the country,” he told reporters, adding that this can be replicated in other provinces with RE potential.

He cited the investment of Filipino-owned Emerging Power Inc. (EPI), which is aiming to become the sole supplier of geothermal energy for Mindanao.

Last Friday, EPI signed another power supply agreement (PSA) with the Occidental Mindoro Electric Cooperative (Omeco). Prior to this, EPI also signed a PSA with Oriental Mindoro Electric Co. (Ormeco).The PSAs with Ormeco and Omeco revolve around the construction of EPI’s $180-million Montelago geothermal power plant in Montelago, Montemayor and Melgar B in Naujan, Oriental Mindoro.

According to EPI, the project would provide 40 MW of power to the two cooperatives, with each to be supplied 20 MW of electricity.

Umali also noted the investments of the Philippine Hybrid Energy Systems Inc. (PHESI) for the first phase of a 16-MW wind project in Puerto Galera, Oriental Mindoro.

The project will be developed in three phases with a total of 48 MW and a total project cost of P6 billion or P2 billion each phase.

Proponents are aiming to complete the project in early 2015, 10 months ahead of the December 2015 previous target date.

“We believe like Mindoro, the rest of the Philippines will be better off with RE because it is indigenous resource. This committee is looking at these options to strike a better balance between power supply and demand,” he said.

He noted that Mindoro has a geothermal energy potential of 4,000 MW, a hydropower potential of 8,000 MW, solar energy potential of 269 MW and wind energy potential of 1,048 MW.

Umali cited the experience in his very own province, which has been attracting several renewable energy companies.