Lawmaker proposes practical steps to solve power crisis

MANILA, Philippines - Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone proposed yesterday what he called “doable and practical steps” the government and the private sector can take to address the power crisis that is expected to hit the country in the early part of next year.

Evardone said the measures can be immediately implemented while the government is still reviewing the possibility of granting President Aquino emergency powers to address the looming energy crisis.

“No doubt, there is a need for the stakeholders to come up with united and concrete steps on how to prevent the possible power crisis and cushion the impact on the economy and the people,” the lawmaker said.

“The power crisis would adversely affect our economic growth unless we adopt and implement immediately some measures to prevent it,” he said.

Evardone proposed the Department of Energy (DOE) should rearrange the schedule of power plant maintenance shutdowns, not to coincide with the March shutdown of the Malampaya gas production platform.

He said such maintenance/repair activities should not be done during summer.

Evardone said the government should speed up the repair of one of the units of the 650-megawatt Malaya thermal plant of the Power Sector Asset and Liabilities Management (PSALM) in Rizal.

Only one unit is operating and the repair of the other unit can add 300 megawatts (MW) to Luzon grid supply next year.

He said the PSALM can do emergency bidding, as provided under the Government Procurement Act, for it to ensure that the repair will be completed and the operational resumption of the idled Malaya generating unit will be accomplished before summer 2015.

Evardone said the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) should continuously tap and increase its utilization of generator set (genset) capacities of the self-generating entities, like industrial users and commercial establishments, under the interruptible load program (ILP).

According to data from the business sector, the total available capacity from the gensets in Luzon is around 1,500 MW, he said.