45 participants commit 210 MW for ILP

MANILA, Philippines - Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), the country’s biggest power distributor, has secured the commitment of 45 participants for the Interruptible Load Program (ILP) with total capacity of 209.72 megawatts.

The power distributor continues to negotiate with potential participants, which may result in an additional 54.72 MW if talks succeed.

The latest figure, however, is still below the 1,000 MW target but the Department of Energy and Meralco continue to seek additional participants for the program to help avert blackouts this summer.

Under the ILP scheme, big power users will be asked to run their own generators when supply is short in the summer months, instead of getting their power from the Luzon grid. In exchange, they will be compensated for their fuel costs.

The electricity that would not be taken from the grid would be available to households and other users, sparing them from rotating blackouts.

There is a projected power supply shortage this summer of at least 700 MW due to higher demand during the hot months.

The three largest participants so far are SM Prime Holdings Inc., the mall development arm of the SM Group with 57.96 MW; Robinsons Land Corp., the property development arm of the Gokongwei Group with a capacity of 23.15 MW; and Waltermart Malls with 14.30 MW.

In addition, there have been expressions of commitment for signing between the contestable customers and the respective retail electricity suppliers (RES) of at least 408 MW.

As early as December 2013, the DOE has called on Meralco for the introduction of the ILP as a last resort. By July 2014, the power distribution company was able to sign up a total of 115 MW.