Fast tracking the biddings for new power plants will ensure a reliable supply at a lower cost possible.
The Federation of Philippine Industries (FPI) made this statement, calling on the Department of Energy (DOE) and industry players to prioritize the next round of biddings for greenfield baseload capacity.
“Greenfield plants on the other hand are the country’s best option to help ensure long term, reliable power supply to the grid, at best cost, which will directly benefit customers,” the group was quoted in a statement.
“With the next rounds of CSP bidding, the most important thing is that the consumers will greatly benefit from the results. Industries can only hope that the remaining power distributors will follow suit, and conduct more biddings already, as the CSP promises to deliver very positive benefits to the Filipino consumer. This is only the first step, but FPI’s vision for CSP is for more and more generation companies to join the process and participate in the bids,” FPI Chairman Jesus L. Arranza said.
The group also requested DOE and the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to urgently approve the current Power Supply Agreements (PSAs) to prepare their implementation and effectivity.
Arranza lauded the recent signing of additional contract capacities but questioned the long timeline for the PSA approval process.
“FPI welcomes the news of this much-needed additional power, to meet the growing demand of our country. We just wish the government and regulator would act swifter on the PSA approvals. Also, hopefully, both the public and private sector can already speed up their processes and start with the next round of CSP bidding, so as to fast-track the building of much needed power plants, to meet the growing power demand of the country,” he said.
“New plants are crucial to system reliability,” he added.
FPI cited the latest yellow power alerts the Luzon grid has been experiencing, even in the cooler months of October and November.
At least 50 yellow alerts were recorded this year, while there had been 14 red alerts with rotational brownouts.
