Phl keen on SEA plan for power, gas pipeline link

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines is keen on joining an interconnected electricity grid and gas pipeline planned by Southeast Asian members to increase available power and fuel supply.

But the Philippines’ participation is hinged on available connection from nearby countries and the resolution of pricing and regulatory issues, the Energy chief said.

“There was a lot of interest about investment opportunities in the (Association of Southeast Asian Nations),” Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras said.

“There is a program called the ASEAN Power Grid (APG), which is supposed to interconnect the countries that can export electricity to countries that need to buy electricity,” Almendras said.

Almendras said the members also discussed the Trans-ASEAN Pipeline Project that is still in the planning stage.

Officials of member countries met last week for the ASEAN foreign ministers meeting in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

For the ASEAN grid, Almendras said Malaysia should first join the project.

“If Malaysia connect that undersea cable [from eastern Malaysia-Borneo to western Malaysia-Kuala Lumpur], then we can participate in the APG,” Almendras said, adding that it is easy to lay undersea cables from Borneo to Palawan.

To date, principles in the APG are already implemented in Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand that are selling electricity to one another. Indonesia, for its part, wants to interconnect with Thailand.

The memorandum of understanding for the APG was signed in 2007 to help ensure greater regional energy security and sustainability on the basis of mutual benefit.

Almendras said the APG will be relevant to countries like Singapore that has no land to accommodate new power plants while Laos and Malaysia record a surplus due to large-scale power generation projects.

The power industry in the Philippines, for its part, has been hampered by lack of investments on the back of government bureaucracy, opposition to power projects and environmental concerns.

Furthermore, Almendras said another big problem arises from regulatory and pricing issues given the subsidized electricity prices for other ASEAN countries.

Meanwhile, the Philippines is also looking to join an interconnected gas pipeline project.

“Indonesia is saying they are going to put up a lot of gas by 2016, so they are also interested in finding ways to sell their gas,” Almendras said.

“We are interested in that discussion because we know that natural gas is the way to go,” Almendras said.