‘More power plants needed by 2017’

MANILA, Philippines - The country’s power producers stressed the need for more power plants by 2017 as a more permanent solution to the current power supply situation, which easily tightens when demand rises.

A tight supply situation arises when there is not enough capacity to meet rising demand in a given period. This leads to higher prices at the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM), the country’s trading floor for electricity, such as in November last year when a record P3.44 per kilowatt-hour increase was posted in the December generation charge of Manila Electric Co. (Meralco).

On Dec. 23, the Supreme Court issued a 60-day temporary restraining order (TRO) against Meralco on the implementation of the increase.

“If we had more plants come in, the power supply situation would be more stable. Ideally, we would want another plant coming in 2015 and 2016,” said Luis Miguel Aboitiz, president of the Philippine Independent Power Producers Association (PIPPA).

PIPPA is a group of 28 power generation companies including Aboitiz Power, the power generation arm of the Aboitiz Group.

“Typically you want between 250 megawatt to 300 MW of new capacity of baseload capacity a year to handle growth in demand,” Aboitiz said.

Peak demand in Luzon grid is expected to increase at an annual average of 4.13 percent to 16,477 MW in 2030 from only 7,969 MW in 2012.

The Department of Energy (DOE), for its part, said the feared critical power situation in Luzon in 2015 would be addressed if the committed power projects will be completed on time.

Under the 2012 Power Development Plan (PDP), the projects committed from 2013 to 2016 would provide a total of 868 MW.

According to energy department data, the grid will require an additional 500 MW by 2016 and 8,100 MW by 2030.