House wants safeguards on ILP program

MANILA, Philippines - Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. wants safeguards implemented to prevent abuse of the Interruptible Load Program (ILP), the government’s principal mechanism in dealing with the looming power shortage.

Under the ILP, large industrial and commercial establishments are required to disconnect from the grid during peak demand and use their own generators. It is expected to free up power for households and other small users. The government will compensate the ILP participants for their fuel use and other operating expenses.

“The big firms have their power already,” Belmonte said. “We have a mechanism to use their power and compensating them for it. The government should see to it that it is paying for something that exists.”

The corporations can’t produce a small amount of power and get paid a big amount, he added.

The Department of Energy and the Energy Regulatory Commission are to enforce provisions of the ILP.

Officials said yesterday the House of Representatives is set to start anytime soon its participation in ILP to contribute at least one to two megawatts to the grid.

Belmonte asked the Senate to agree with the House version of the proposed joint resolution that would not pass on the cost of the ILP to consumers.

“Our (House) version is the better one,” he said.

“At the end of the day, it’s the small fry that does not have a backyard generator that bears the brunt of this temporary emergency.

“If the money (for the ILP) will come from the government, that will give them more reason to be watchful and be vigilant that all the players are actually abiding by the agreement,” he added.

The bicameral conference committee is expected to meet to settle their differences this week.

Meanwhile, conservation group World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) said that with the looming power shortage this summer, adding 500 MW of wind power to the national grid could be helpful as it will have no negative impacts on the grid operations.

“Despite the wind’s variable nature, 500 MW can easily be integrated without the risk of blackouts or interruptions,” the WWF said, citing the World Bank and Australian Agency for International Development’s 2013 report on the Grid Impact of Variable Renewable Energy for the Philippines.

“A country’s national grid should have a power reserve capacity equal to or larger than its biggest power plant. This reserve prevents blackouts, even if the grid’s biggest plant shuts down,” WWF-Philippines Climate Change Unit head Gia Ibay added.

The WWF noted that the 500 MW of power provided by new wind farms in Ilocos, Rizal and Panay is smaller than the grid’s reserve requirements, so even with their variable nature, they will not affect the grid negatively.

 “There will also be no grid constraint problems regarding the time of day that wind farms feed energy into the system because wind production peaks from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., the hours with the highest daily peak demands. This means that all generated energy will be consumed. This dispels fears of creating ‘over-contracted’ energy which goes to waste,” the group added.

About 70 percent of Philippine electricity is currently generated from fossil fuels, 90 percent of which are imported at varying prices. Humanity’s continued reliance on fossil fuels for the transportation and energy-generation industries is the primary cause of climate change, the impacts of which are becoming more destructive yearly.

For this reason, WWF is spearheading the Seize the Wind campaign to increase the Feed-in Tariff allocation for wind energy from 200 MW to 500 MW before the end of summer.

Wind produces free, clean power throughout the year, with the highest production during November to April, the northeast monsoon season. – With Rhodina Villanueva