Business club pushes for WESM operation

CEBU, Philippines - While the power shortage is still an apparent problem in Cebu, the Cebu Business Club (CBC) strongly pushes for the immediate implementation of the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market in Visayas.

In a position paper released by the club, they are urging concerned agencies to immediately address the power crisis in the province through the immediate implementation of the WESM; support the completion and operation of Cebu Energy Development Corporation and KEPCO Clean Coal-Fired Power Plants provided they adopt industry environmental best practices and remain compliant with the government safety and environmental standards,” stated the CBC position paper, which was released yesterday.

CBC led by businessman Dondi Joseph also called the attention of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) and the Department of Energy (DOE) to conduct a formal study of Cebu’s future power requirements relative to the economic growth of Cebu and its neighbors projected over the next 15 years. NEDA and DOE are urged to conduct this study “right away.”

Also, the establishment of a Council to focus on energy options consisting of realistically available renewable or environmentally friendly energy sources. This council should be formed and spearheaded by the Regional Development Council (RDC) Infrastructure Committee.

The proposed Energy Council should be composed of stakeholders including business, civil society, environmentalists, the academe, and the local government units (LGUs).

The CBC organized a summit on 4 December 2009 at Marco Polo Cebu entitled “Energy+Environment = Sustainability” involving stakeholders concerned with Cebu’s economic development, environment protection, and poverty alleviation.  

Joseph said Cebu is short of Power and this issue has to be immediately addressed. Failure to do so will hamper the growth of Cebu’s economy and directly affect employment and the growth of neighboring provinces. Reliable power (“24/7”) is an absolute requirement for attracting and retaining foreign direct investors, as well as for the development of local businesses.  

“We recognize that the current shortage will be addressed temporarily by the construction and operations of Cebu Energy Development Corporation (Toledo) and KEPCO (Naga), whose operations the Cebu Business Club strongly supports,” CBC said.  

“We are aware that Philippine Electricity Market Corporation (PEMC) has already established the infrastructure for the implementation and operation of WESM in the Cebu-Negros-Panay Grid. The implementation of WESM allows unutilized and hidden power capacities to be freely traded thereby mitigating the current power shortages,” added the position paper. 

According to CBC “they are already aware” that WESM participants (distribution utilities – DU’s, aggregators, major loads, and independent power producers – IPP’s) were ready to commence trading as early as February 2008, and that existing bilateral power agreements between IPP’s and DU’s will not be immediately affected by WESM, thereby keeping prices to the average user stable.

In short term between now and 2012 CBC said that WESM should start operating and deploy diesel powered plant in the Visays grid to meet the increasing demand.

In the next five years and beyond, Cebu should no longer allow the construction of non-renewable power sources and stop the operation of existing ones after 2022.

CBC board of trustees include Joseph, Bruce Chiongbian, Sabino Dapat, Perry Fajardo, Vivencio Lacustales, Roy Lotzof, Jose Soberano, Philip Tan and Roger Lim.