SENATOR CHIZ ESCUDERO (CHIZ): Briefly Mr. Chairman, yes, I second the statement made by our distinguished chairman, Chairman Raffy Tulfo, with respect to the energy situation of the Philippines. The basic principles of supply and demand applies to the energy sector: ‘pag kulang ang supply ng power, mataas ang kuryente. ‘Pag sobra ang supply, mura ang kuryente. And I will say it, later on, Mr. Chairman, I am giving due notice to both the DOE and the ERC, bakit ang bagal ninyo mag-approve ng mga bagong plantang ginagawa? Ba’t niyo ba pinipigilan ang pag-apruba ng mga bagong application ng mga planta? Ba’t niyo ba ineeksakto niyo lang sa pangangailangan?
I’ll give you an example, Mr. Chairman, one of the main reasons why we suffer this red and yellow alerts is because the supposed plans that are going to be online ranging between 1800 megawatts to 2250 megawatts are supposed to be online late this year or early next year. Kung pumasok ‘yun on time hindi tayo mag re-red o yellow alert. Ang problema nga kasi parang hindi ko maintindihan kung baket pinipigilan, binabagalan, tinatagalan ang pag-approve ng bagong planta.
And number two, the chairman made mention of renewable energy. There is a memorandum circular signed by then Sec. Cusi, basically, holding the approval of any power plants favoring the renewables. I will ask Mr. Chairman, our distinguished resource persons, may baseload na ba ang renewable? May baseload ba ang solar? May baseload ba na wind? Renewable tayo ng renewable, push tayo nang push ng renewable pero wala namang mabibigay na baseload na power yan, tapos magrereklamo tayo na kulang ang power? It doesn’t intersect. Your push for renewables doesn’t intersect with what the country needs right now. In fact, there is a shift both in Europe and the United States with respect to renewables, they’re shifting not to renewables anymore. So, I will go in that direction Mr. Chairman, again just to give due notice to our resource speakers and to prepare kindly the data that they have with respect to these issues. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
CHIZ: Mr. Chairman, with your permission. Can you clarify for us, there is a planned outage and an unplanned outage but you mentioned forced and maintenance. Ang forced at maintenance parehong unplanned outage ‘yan, ‘di ba? So, there are only two categories, planned and unplanned, right? So, under unplanned, forced and maintenance or under sa planned ang maintenance. Under sa unplanned ang maintenance, right?
ERC DIRECTOR SHARON MONTANER (SM): Under sa planned po ‘yung maintenance, preventive maintenance.
CHIZ: Under sa planned ang maintenance ang force ang hindi, planned?
SM: Forced ang hindi planned po.
CHIZ: So technically there are two categories, planned and unplanned. So, under planned, maintenance, under forced ‘yung unplanned naman na rason kung anuman. Bakit hinihiwalay pa niyo ‘yung maintenance sa planned?
SM: We just identified here that there were plans that were on preventive maintenance and we’re on scheduled shutdown that extended po kaya naging slash po.
SENATOR RAFFY TULFO (RT): Excuse me, Senator Chiz. Patapusin muna natin sila and then of course kung sino ang mga nauna dumating dito. So please, one-minute na lang ata. Let’s just finish.
CHIZ: Thank you, Mr. Chair, just to follow up on the question of the chairman. Just to clarify Director Sharon, Ma’am, you don’t have people who regularly inspect the power plants right?
SM: None, your Honor.
CHIZ: As you said, you do desk maintenance which means you require the power plants to submit a report on the condition of their plants
SM: Yes, your Honor.
CHIZ: Now, it’s good if they will declare against their interest and say that there is something wrong with their plant and they usually don’t so they will say everything is good and dandy. These are private corporations that are for profit which is admittedly pin-privatize nga natin, so tinatanggap nga natin na ang mga kumpanyang ito gustong kumita. Ngayon kung kailangang palitan ‘yung filter dahil kulang pa ang budget, nagtitipid ang kumpanya. Linisin na lang muna natin, you won’t even know about that, right? Because you are dependent on their submissions even what you said kanina na every five years you require them to submit but nobody actually from ERC or even DOE goes to the plant who understands the plant and will be able to see and say ba’t hindi niyo pinalitan ito? ‘Di ba dapat pinalitan na ito two years ago? Nobody is competent in both ERC and DOE does that actually, right?
SM: Yes, your Honor. Kasi limited ‘yung staff to do it
CHIZ: No. Whether limited but nobody does it even DOE, right? Usec? You don’t do that too?
DOE UNDERSECRETARY ROWENA GUEVARA (RG): No, your Honor.
CHIZ: Mr. Chairman, next.
RT: Ma’am, makasingit lang ha, Senator Chiz.
CHIZ: Sure.
RT: Alam niyo pala na matagal na ang problemang ito na hindi kayo gumagawa ng regular inspection sa mga planta, bakit hindi niyo ginagawan ng aksyon? Ngayon na alam na nating lahat, ano ang plano? What are your future plans? Would you continue with this system na kung ano lang sasabihin ng planta magpapadala lang sa inyo ng sulat o letter specifying na OK ang planta naming, it’s in good condition. Wala pala kayong mga expert na nag-i-inspeksyon sa mga planta who can really say that the plant is really in good condition or not, what are your plans? Ano ang plano? Ano ang game plan?
SM: On the part of the market operations, your Honors, just late last year we formed an ad hoc team to monitor these gencos. So merong desk monitoring, meron din sa outages, and meron din to determine the liability of plants.
RT: From the desk, from the airconditioned room of your officer, of your inspector doing it? Remote? No, what I am trying to say here or mean is someone an expert sa mga planta would go there physically and inspect, nakikita nya sa mata nya. Mata sa mata. ‘Yung sitwasyon ng mga planta, mga piyesa kung tama ba ang pag-aandar. ‘Wag yung sa desk. Desk means nothing, its bs.
SM: Your Honors, just to clarify po, the team doing the desk monitoring is to monitor the financials and the market share limitation, they do the desk monitoring. The grid compliance section that conducted this investigation they were spun off from the licensing team po so tin-ry po naming ito para po mas maano ‘yung monitoring ng gencos. So, we’re trying to build up that team so right now po. The one heading it, the section head, Engr. Mark who conducted this investigation has a contract of service under him na tini-train po niya for now po
RT: So meron kayong technical team?
SM: Meron po.
RT: Na pumupunta dun sa planta, physically, at tinitignan ‘yung libro?
SM: Yes po.
RT: Tapos tinitignan ‘yung logbook. Tapos tinitignan ‘yung operation manual kung tumutugma ba ‘yung pagpapatakbo ng planta, etcetera. Merong ganoon o wala?
SM: Meron po.
RT: Sabi niyo kasi, every five years o once in five years?
SM: Meron po but only, sa ngayon, sinimulan nila since last year ‘yung mga inspection. But they were only able to cover muna those with prolonged outages po. But we will try to increase ‘yung plan for inspection of the rest of the plants. It was already a spin-off from the licensing office, your Honors, but will try to increase the capacity of that team.
CHIZ: This is very important, Mr. Chairman, distinguished colleagues because of the April 16 incident. Correct me if I’m wrong ha, but you can confirm or deny my figures, I counted it manually. For the date April 16, there were only 8 planned outages and there were 35 unplanned outages. I can go to the megawatts and the number of plants, too, if you want, but I am only counting the number of units na unplanned na nag-shut down. I can proceed, that’s in Luzon. In Visayas, there were 48 unplanned outages. In Mindanao, there were only 10 and I am only talking about April 16.
I can summarize, Mr. Chairman. In so far as the count of planned and unplanned outages is concerned, on April 16, planned outages were supposed to be only 8, and forced outages were 28. April 17, 8 din dapat ‘yung planned outages, meaning, ‘yung nagbigay ng abiso na ito ang kailangan i-out muna namin sa grid, hindi kami makakapag supply. Twenty-seven ang unplanned. April 18, 7 lang dapat ang planned, 26 ang unplanned. Sorry, if I count the maintenance which is unplanned plus two din ‘yun, plus 2 pa yun sa lahat ha. Let’s look at May 6, 6 lang ang dapat na planned outage, 16 ang forced, 3 ang maintenance na unplanned, so a total of 19 unplanned. Does this not highlight director Sharon, Usec Guevara, the fact that you should monitor the plants more closely because we have more unplanned outages than we do planned outages?
Now I have the specific reasons to hear why, but these are all based on the submission of the plant itself. Actually, wala kayong ka muwang-muwang, you don’t have eyes, you don’t have ears, you don’t have teeth, and warm hands on the ground, to find out kung ‘yung sinasabi ba talaga nilang rason, totoo o hindi. And my problem is you would decide based on their submission, and their submission alone, kung i-impose-an niyo ba sila ng fine, dahil hindi inaalagaan ang planta.
There is such a resolution, Mr. Chairman, Resolution No. 03-209, stating na ‘pag hindi planado, ‘yung forced outage—hindi force majeure—then paparusahan sila: first violation, second violation, third violation. I will ask later kung meron na kayong napatawan ng parusa, dahil sa tingin ko kung ganito kadalas ‘yung unplanned—I am only talking of the period between April 16 to May 6 ha, and I have the yearly average too—nasaan ‘yung fine man lang para ma-discourage ‘tong mga plantang ‘to. Tandaan niyo negosyo ‘to, kung hindi nag-o-operate ‘yung planta hindi sila kikita. Pero mamaya naman kasi nagtitipid ‘yung may-ari, ‘yung sa baba tinatago ang sira, tinatago nila ang kapalpakan nila, I don’t know.
But the point is, on a daily basis, Mr. Chairman, distinguished colleagues, we have more, daily ha, unplanned outages. Meaning hindi in-inform ‘yung DOE, hindi in-inform ‘yung systems operator, hindi in-inform ang ERC, talagang pinapatay na lang. Minsan ang notice, as Senator Risa said, minsan one day, minsan one week, dahil kaya pa naman. Minsan immediately kasi nagti-trip na lang. Is that a correct assessment of the power situation right now? I don’t know who can answer. Director Sharon? Or Director Guevara?
RT: I think the DOE would like to answer your question. Go ahead, Director Guevara
RG: Thank you, your Honor. First of all, in our first slide, we showed that this is very strange weather we are having that the temperature index, and the heat index is really very high and it has affected many of the plants’ operations
CHIZ: Ma’am, sorry Ma’am, ha. It should only affect hydro, ha, dahil walang tubig. Why all the rest? Why would it affect coal? Why would it affect wind? Why would it affect solar? In fact, it should be better for solar. So you are just talking about hydro, Ma’am?
RG: Sir, with solar, for example, scientific papers have already shown that if the temperature is more than the normal operating temperature. The efficiency of solar panels goes down. Meron po tayong scientific—and we can send you copies of these papers
CHIZ: Ma’am, don’t send it to me. Read it yourself because you are still pushing for solar and other renewables. In fact, the dependable capacity of solar is only at 25 percent and you still need baseload to hold that energy in into the grid. Correct me if I’m wrong, you need 0.2 of every 1 megawatt of solar to bring it to the grid of baseload. So, no need to furnish the committee, Ma’am. Please proceed, Ma’am.
RG: Then the thermal plants are also having problems when temperatures are high. We have representatives here from the power generation plants who can explain to you the exact nature of that deficiency or problem when the temperatures are high. And so, because of this high heat index, as explained by PAGASA to us, the operations of the plants are affected. Now as to what we are trying to do now, to solve partly the problem, we have started formulating a policy, such that we would be able to discourage economic shutdowns of plants or power plants and then that they would make sure that they maintain their plants and that they would not incur any of the penalties under pay.
CHIZ: Mr. Chairman, forgive me for contesting the data and statement or answer of Usec. Guevara because hindi lang naman ‘yung init ngayon ang may kasalanan. I will give you some data for the record, Mr. Chairman. For the period 2020 until 2023, in Luzon there were supposed to be only 594 planned outages, and unplanned outages including forced and maintenance 4,683 events of unplanned outages, that’s only Luzon. In Visayas 7,000 as against 94 planned outages. In Mindanao, 238 against unplanned outages. Now let’s look at 2020, hindi pa naman kasing init ngayon ‘yung 2020 siguro, 53 planned outages and we have a total of 609 unplanned outages in Luzon. For Visayas, 12 planned outages. 2081 incidents or events of unplanned outages in Visayas. In Mindanao, 28 planned outages, and 111 unplanned outages or events of unplanned outages. It can be an hour or two, one day, extended or nag-extend ‘yung maintenance, magiging unplanned na po ‘yon, ‘di ba? So, it’s not the heat. Ang problema po kasi, let’s be realistic, I’m not laying all the blame on you. Kulang ‘yung supply. So pagdating ng August, paglapit sa inyo ng mga planta, ito ‘yung kailangan naming maintenance. Ito yung kailangan naming outages for this year, for next year ang DOE at ang system operator makikipagtawaran sa kanila. Correct me if this is not happening na, “Hoy, huwag naman sa Samar,” as you said earlier Usec. Guevara, right? “Hoy, ‘wag naman sa Samar mataas ang demand natin manipis.
‘Di ba, kailangan ‘yon talaga ang schedule? ‘Wag naman iklian mo na lang or may planned outage talaga sila dapat sana let’s say February, ‘wag naman kasi manipis may naka-planned outage na d’yan iurong niyo naman sa ganitong petsa. It’s a question of negotiation, right? Correct me if I’m wrong, am I accurate Usec. Guevera? Does that happen?
RG: Yes, it can happen.
CHIZ: Until finally you agree on a schedule of planned outages, medyo napilitan ng kaunti ang planta. Baka naman maluwag sa kalooban hindi ko na alam, hindi na po natin alam, ‘di ba. You will come up with a schedule planned outage for the succeeding year, come November or October, is that correct?
But as you see from the data since 2020, Ma’am, halos 10 percent lang ‘yung planned, 90 percent unplanned then there must be something wrong. ‘Wag niyong sabihing force majeure lahat ‘yon, and, correct me if I’m wrong too, you schedule the maintenance of hydro plants as a rule during summer months dahil mahina rin naman ang tubig. Kaunting turbina lang, hindi naman lahat umaandar. ‘Di schedule niyo ng summer ‘yan. So even the statement, usually you avoid summer months for maintenance, is not accurate insofar as hydro powerplants are concerned. That’s the best time to do maintenance work. Plant shutdown for hydro because kulang din naman ang tubig. Is that correct, Asec. Marasigan? You might be in a better position to answer, Asec. Marasigan.
DOE OFFICER-IN-CHARGE ASSISTANT SECRETARY MARIO MARASIGAN (MM): Thank you very much, Mr. Chair and the honorable Senator. Yes, we do not allow the conduct of preventive maintenance services of all conventional and other technologies during the summer period and it is also indicated in our grid and operating maintenance program policy that only hydropower generators are allowed to conduct maintenance during summer.
CHIZ: Which is correct, kasi kulang din naman ang tubig ‘di ba hindi naman nag-o-open lahat ng turbina bakit hindi. That’s correct, right? Now, again going back to the issue, you need a team of experts—Director Sharon, also the DOE Usec. Guevara—experts na nakakaintindi, dahil hindi naman ho iisa lang ang klase ng planta. Hindi naman ‘yan parang kotse na sedan, SUV, van na ganoon lang ang classification, pare-pareho na siya. Iba ang Hyundai, iba ang Nissan, iba ang Toyota. So iba ang solar, iba ang wind, iba ang coal, iba ‘yung clean coal, what have your different brands pa. Hindi po ba?
We know the specs when they applied but, after the fact, wala na po tayong monitoring. I fact, your computation of available capacity is based on the rated capacity of the plant when they were installed. Is there even an agency or an office that rates the available power being supplied each power plant as of today? Some are five-years-old, some are three-years-old, some are fifteen-years-old, some are twenty-year-old. May ganoon po ba tayo? Mayroon po? So ‘yung dependable capacity, pero ‘yung undependable capacity po, depende po ‘yon sa kaya nila, depende kung nag-maintenance sila, nagawa na ulit nung planta. But I’m asking the actual plant, ‘yung dating 1,300mw, ilan na lang talaga siya ngayon? Hindi dahil may mini-maintain ‘yung talagang kaya niya. May ganoon po ba tayo? Please, yes, Asec. Marasigan.
MM: Thank you very much, honorable Senator. Our system operator conducts tests and conditioning and determines the actual availability of these power plants, although this is not on a regular basis, but there are instances that we call on the system operator to determine the actual availability.
CHIZ: Mr. Chairman, let me—I’m not talking about the system operator—I’m talking about you. I’m talking about DOE. No, they don’t know it, Mr. Chairman. Actually, walang ganoong mechanism. Kinukuha ‘yung data galing sa SO but the SO needs it on a minute per minute, second per second basis, acutally. So ia-average ‘yon, so do you even have rules on how to average the dependable capacity of a plant for a given year or the previous year? Is it regularly asked for by the DOE and do you plot it because to my mind how do you know how many megawatts we need to give our economic growth, given higher demand, given the increased heat? How can you project kung ilan ‘yung kailangan natin year-on-year knowing that it takes at least five years to construct a plant and commission a plant? How will you know what the demand is? We don’t know this. So SO kailangan niyo talaga ‘yon to maintain the stability of the grid. But on the part of the DOE, your policy-making you should know this. So, you know too and I will go to that point later, gaano kabilis ba tayo dapat mag-approve ng application sa bagong planta? Lilimitahan pa ba natin ang greenfield coal? Papayagan na ba natin o puro tayo renew lang, right? You should know it. Next point, Mr. Chairman.
RT: Kasi Senator Chiz tango lang ng tango si Asec. Marasigan parang agree ka sa lahat ng sinasabi ni Senator Chiz and you don’t even want to say anything or come up with your own opinion with the questions.
SENATOR SHERWIN GATCHALIAN (SG): Mr. Chairman, I’ll build on the comments and questions of our colleagues. I was looking at the installed and dependable capacity natin for 2022: ang installed is 28,000, I’ll just round it off. Tama, Asec. Mario? And then for dependable capacity is 23,000. Ang peak demand natin is 16,000. So meron tayong excess of about 7, 000 ‘no that’s for 2022. I don’t have the 2023 figures but looking at that, looks comfortable that we have an excess of 7,000. How do you define dependable capacity? How do you define dependable capacity? How do you define installed? How do you define dependable capacity? Sige, Usec. Guevarra or Asec. anyone from DOE. Sige, go ahead, ‘no.
RG: Sir, kapag sinabing “installed capacity,” ito po ‘yung naka-mark sa makina mismo kapag bagong install po siya. Ngayon, as time goes by bumababa po ang kanyang capacity. Kunwari nami-maintain naman siya properly nag-i-age po talaga ‘yung mga iba’t ibang parts ng makina. So ‘yung dependable capacity, ‘yan ‘yong kapag cinall siya ng system operator, ‘yan ‘yung dapat kaya niyang i-provide.
SG: So, ‘yung installed is ‘yung main plate, ‘di ba? And then ‘yung dependable, how do you compute that? Do you account for unplanned, planned outages? How do you account?
RG: Your Honor, meron pong test na kino-conduct ang NGCP tapos doon malalaman kung hangang saan ang kaya ng planta.
CHIZ: You are correct, Senator Win. Ma’am unplanned nga. Kapag sinabi mong “dependable,” nag-unplan siya ‘di hindi na po dependable ‘yon. ‘Di ba kapag tinawag siya ng NGCP, 9:41am, ‘di ba ‘yon ang sasabihin mong dependable pero kung nag-unplan shutdown nga siya. Again, 9 out of 10 outages and shutdowns in the country for the past 3 years are unplanned; only 1 out of 10 are planned. So how can you base the definition of dependable on ‘yung pino-provide niya at one time, i-average mo na lang siguro ‘di ba kasi kung nagsa-shutdown siya, i-average mo na lang hindi puwedeng, we will never get an accurate picture if that is the case. I hope I added to the question of Senator Sherwin.
SG: And also, what Senator Chiz pointed out. I was looking at the breakdown, for example po, sa solar ang installed niya is 1,500 and dependable niya is 1,100. Sa wind 427, ang dependable niya is 412. But we all know that solar ang dependable niya is only 20 percent. Correct? Ang wind is also the same. So, in other words why are we counting almost 90 percent of the capacity of solar while, in fact, we only know that it’s 20 percent ang capacity factor? Nawala kaagad, if you remove the 80 percent, mawawala 1,000mw mahigit agad. ‘Yung 7,000mw na margin mo, mababawasan kaagad ng 1,000mw. ‘Di ba ‘yung 400mw mo mababawasan kaagad ng almost 300mw.
So, my point is the margin of 7,000mw is not the real margin, mas mababa pa siya, because of all these variables. So, we are giving false information because the real margin doesn’t take, the margin that we are saying does not take into consideration the capacity factor. The real margin is way below the actual margin that is projected. Can you comment on that?
Kasi naririnig ko parati, ang laki ng margin natin 7,000mw ‘wag tayong matakot. In fact, DOE came out with their—wthere’s a presscon nga na, I think everyone was happy to hear this on March 3 and April 11 of this year—that DOE assured the public that there will be no red alerts. I think that was an exciting moment for all of us. But then again nangyari na ito and if you break down the numbers, because the basis of that announcement is 7,000mw plus, but if you take the capacity factor, it’s not 7, 000mw it’s way below 7,000mw.
RG: Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you very much Senator Win for that question. Many people only looked at the megawatts that we report. Mayroon pong pangalawang table usually ang Philippine Energy Plant ‘yung “megawatt hours” which is the real McCoy, kasi ‘yon ang binibilang namin. So, when I mentioned kanina that we have 2,000mw coming in conventional and 1,900mw coming in solar, we did the computation for gigawatt hours. ‘Yon pong ni-report kong 18 percent that is based on the capacity factor of 0.16 for the solar. So, when we compute ‘yung .16, Sir, so when we compute the availability for generation, we compute in gigawatt hours. Although we report also the capacity which is the megawatts but we do compute, kapag nagco-compute na po talaga kami nung demand and supply, we look at the gigawatt hours po. So ‘yun pong tanong niyo po kanina, Sir, about ano ba ‘ung kanyang dependable capacity, iba po ‘yung availability po, iba po ‘yung bilang naming. Thank you, Sir.
CHIZ: Senator Win, let me complicate it a bit more for them and for your computation too. Again, for every megawatt of solar, you’ll need an equivalent of baseload to put that in, if I’m not mistaken 0.2. So, kada magdadagdaga ka ng solar, kailangan mo pa rin ng added capacity na bubunutin mo sa baseload mo para mahila ‘yung renewable na ‘yon. So, in other words, the demand will increase. Doon ba sa sinasabi niyong computation na 0.16, in-offset niyo na po ‘yon or hindi pa?
RG: Iyon pong pag-o-offset po nung ating mga renewables, medyo mayroon lump version po, ‘no. Doon sa lump version natin, kasi, alam natin na solar magaling siyang mag-operate kapag may araw, kapag gabi wala na siya. So, in fact, the system operator came up with dito dapat magkaroon ng batteries kasi kailangan po talang i-strengthen ‘yung current grid natin dahil hindi po siya naka-ready talaga for renewables. So,in fact, kahit sa DOE, may upcoming green energy auction kami, number four within the year ‘yung natira naming 8,200mw last year ang aming ipapa-bid ngayon ay renewable energy plus energy storage system. Kasi nga, kapag nagdagdag ka na naman ng renewable. Tama po si Senator Chiz, may panghatak dapat ‘yan. Hindi naman bigla na kapag wala ng araw wala na rin tayong energy consumption. So, the batteries are going to not only help with maintaining the output of the plant na hindi siya masyadong carriable, makakatulong din po sa grid. Kasi kunwari, 100mw ‘yung solar mo, dapat ang transmission line mo 100mw din. Pero kung magcha-charge siya ng battery or other energy storage system, puwedeng mas mababa ‘yung capacity na required for the transmission line. So, we are also doing that, Senator.
CHIZ: (inaudible)
RG: Yes.
CHIZ: And I thought we wanted to lower the cost of electricity, Mr. Chairman. We are not headed towards our regime of lower electricity. We are headed towards a regime of clean power, but expensive power, and this is a clear example ‘yong binid out nilang battery. Again, it’s the same source, it’s the same solar panel pero kaya nga ang tawag ng DOE, Senator Win is “VRE”. What VRE stands for Ma’am? With an emphasis on the word “variable”, hindi siya reliable kaya hindi siya puwede maging baseload. That’s why you need all of these things which will further increase the cost of power. As a policy, why are you doing that?
Ano, nakikisabay tayo sa Green Push Worldwide na the Philippines contribution to carbon emission worldwide is .03 between China and the US, which is about 50 percent and we are the ones keen on doing this and China and the U.S. are not even budging? Tayo ‘yung nanggigigil magbawas kahit .03 lang tayo, kahit magastos ‘yong kuryente? Are we there, is that makikisabay lang ba tayo or are we being pressured by the Western, our Western allies through this? Are they making money only available for this but DOE has a policy prohibiting green-fueled coal power plants, and the processing of those? ‘Di ba dapat buksan?
I will end, Senator Sherwin, with this, law of supply and demand. Kapag madaming supply ng kuryente mapipilitan sa CSP mag-bid ng mababa ang mga powerplant para may kita sila kahit papaano. Why are you limiting entrance to the energy sector? I’m talking about power generation to only 25 percent reserve, to only 18 percent reserve. What do I care if it’s a 100 percent reserve, 200 percent reserve, ibig sabihin nun mababa ang presyo ng kuryente natin. I don’t understand that. Let the industry decide may ECC naman ‘yan bago ‘yan ma-aprubahan so let the industry decide. Bakit natin pinipigilan? And speaking of that kindly submit I won’t (inaudible) the point, kindly submit to this committee how many pending applications for new generation capacity are pending both before the ERC and the DOE specially with respect to the CSP. Kasi siyempre gusto nila ng off-take, ‘di ba? Karamihan naman ng gustong gumawa ng planta gusto ng offtake 2028, 2027, ‘di ba? All of these must be approved by ERC. I would like to know Director Sharon, kindly submit to us, how many pending applications for offtake agreements are pending before the ERC. How many are you sitting on and how long have you sat on it.
Again, more supply, ‘di ba? Huwag niyo pong sakalin ‘yung supply. Fifty percent of the electric power bill of our consumers is from generation cost. You want to harp on distribution, that’s 20 percent. You want to harp on transmission, that’s 4 percent. Why not harp on lowering the 50 percent of the bulk of what we are paying for by way of power? I don’t get that, quite frankly, I don’t get that from DOE.
And one last point, Mr. Chairman—sorry Senator Win, I will leave it at that—actually, kawawa ang DOE at ang ERC dahil wala pong expertise talaga and we are still in the process of developing that expertise and harnessing it. Our expertise comes mostly from the private sector. In fact, the best evidence of that would be our Secretary of Energy and Chairman of the ERC are both from the private sector. You need a certain level of competence and expertise for this and most of the time our information we get from the industry players. Wala namang sariling opinion talaga, we just rely on what they tell us. It is high time that the DOE and ERC develop it’s core of people experts and it takes time, it does take time.
Ma’am, I’m sure you’ve been offered a position in the private sector, and the same is true with Asec. Marasigan—a more lucrative position is waiting for you when you retire dahil mas mataas kasi ang suweldo kaysa sa gobyerno. But we need you in government because there are very few people who understand the power industry who are in government right now. That’s why we always count on the private sector.
So kindly, while you are there, while you are still there developed, let’s pay for scholarships, let’s pay for training, let’s pay for studies to be done by our people with the condition that they will stay in the government for 5 or 10 years so they can help guide us. Hindi ‘yung dependent tayo sa mga expert ng private sector. Siyempre gogoyoin tayo nun. Habol nila kita. I submit, Mr. Chairman.
RT: Thank you. Mayroon akong idudugtong diyan, Senator Chiz. Tama nga naman, mayroon kang point doon, at maganda ang katanungan mo. Bakit wala tayong mga experts sa inyo at we rely on the private sector? ‘Di ba dapat when it comes to experts—expert’s opinion—especially sa energy, we rely on the government side. Kasi sila talaga ang basehan at sila ang may last say, whether tama ba ‘yong ginagawa ng mga tao sa ating gobyerno in relation to technical sides sa mga ginagawa niyong trabaho, we don’t have that is it because wala tayong pera, budget o we cannot compete doon sa mga pay na ino-offer sa private sector? Is it really the reason? Or one of the reasons?
RG: Tama naman po kayo na mas competitive ang compensation sa private sector. Pero may mga ibang bagay po sana na matulungan niyo kami na magamit namin. Kunwari meron naman po tayong funds na dapat sana available sa Department of Energy, pero hindi po available sa amin. So meron po kaming training components tsaka development assistance na ni-require kami ng COA na i-submit directly sa Bureau of Treasury. Tapos hihingin naming sa DBM para i-release sa amin para ma-train naming ‘yung tao naming, but this has never been released. We submit it every year in our budget but it is never included.
RT: So ganoon pala katindi ang mga violators ang dami. Kulang pa.
CHIZ: No, Mr. Chairman, kulang because the first offense is P50,000, the second P100,000, pinakamataas is P500,000. As I discussed earlier, you’re talking of 4,000 unplanned outages for the period 2020-2023.
RT: Excuse me, Senator Chiz. Ilang planta? ‘Yung P60-M para sa akin parang malaki kung were talking about P50,000 per violation. Ilan ang planta? Sabi mo kasi, for just one year, P60-M. ‘Yung P60-M, paano mo idi-divide ‘yan? Ilang planta at ilang beses nag-violate? Mayroon bang tinatawag na “first strike”, “second strike”, and then after that out ka na? First things first, doon sa P60-M, ilang planta ‘yon?
SM: Thirty po, twenty-seven to thirty po.
RT: Twenty-seven to thirty. Saan ito, mostly Luzon, Visayas o Mindanao? And how old are these plants?
SM: Your Honor, we don’t have these details but we will submit po.
RT: Sinu-sino itong mga plants and how many violations have been incurred? Paano aabot ng P60-M?
SM: Yes, your Honor. Iba-iba po kasi ‘yung level ng violation because when we compute the penalty it’s on kung recurring ba siya, how many times na siyang nag-outage in capacity and the duration po.
RT: So hanggang ilang beses lang sila na pinapayagan na magkaroon ng violation? They can only violate so much and then after that kailan sila i-shut down. Kung halimbawa in a year ay tatlong beses silang nagkakaroon ng violation. For me, it’s about time na, “Teka muna, stop operation muna siguro kayo.” Or they have to really think seriously what we need to do about you, kasi kung tuluy-tuloy pa rin kayong nagva-violate so hanggang daan ba ‘yung threshold ninyo na pinapayagan niyo na mag-violate ang isang planta dahil hindi siya properly maintained.
CHIZ: You don’t have penalties for a poorly maintained plant. You only have penalties for non-compliance with submissions.
SM: Your Honors, we have also the reliability indices po that we impose and, also, it’s an indication of whether the plant is properly maintained or not po.
CHIZ: Saan nakalagay ‘yon? You have a regulation, right? You should have reposted it.
SM: Yes po, we have. It’s Resolution No. 10, Series of 2020 po.
CHIZ: ‘Yung bago.
SM: Because we account for the yearly performance of the plants in terms of outages. So, for example, for coal, your Honors, the number—
RT: Sandali lang po, Ma’am, bago ako mawala sa focus doon sa sa mga gusto kong itanong pa. Doon sa sabi mong twenty-seven to thirty, ilan dito sa twenty-seven at thirty ang recidivist, paulit-ulit na lang nagva-violate, ilan at ano po yung naging aksyon niyo dito sa mga paulit-ulit na lang nagva-violate?
SM: Your Honors, can I be allowed to submit the data?
RT: When can you submit the data?
SM: Tomorrow, your Honors.
RT: So anong ginagawa niyong recommendations, of course, after na makita ‘yung violation ng isang planta after na multahan, you give recommendations? Usually, ano ‘yung nakikita niyong problema, bakit nagkakaroon ng violations ang isang planta kaya niyo minumultahan at anong kadalasan ‘yung problema ng mga plantang ito?
SM: Your Honors, for example po, in 2023 po, a large percentage of the outages are on plant equipment breakdown po. So mayroon din po kasing another reason na transmission distribution issues but mas malaki po ‘yung percentage ng plant equipment breakdown.
RT: Anong karamihan—kung siguro, dito involved si Atty. Ticia, ‘yung sinasabi mong 4-years-old pa lang na planta na nasira, saan made ‘yon, anong bansa?
ATTY. TICIA SORESCA (TS): Hindi ko po masasabi kung saang bansa, but it’s the SBPL Coal plant by Meralco and the Masinloc 3 Coal Plant by San Miguel Corp. Both 4-years-old with twenty-six and twenty-five force outages.
RT: Siyempre ‘yung mga gamit na ‘yon, saan galing? That we have to know from Meralco.
CHIZ: Mr. Chairman, Attorney Ticia is clearly advocating for clean power that’s why we have this data. Atty. Tricia, I’ll give a list of all the plants that had unplanned outages all over the universe not just what you tested. For all the plants that had unplanned and planned outages for the past three years, I’ll have it photocopied and sent to you, Mr. Chairman, just to clarify you don’t have penalties for unplanned shutdown because of the resolution you gave me 10-2020. Yes, it talks about reliability, but it does not make mention of fines and penalties in 18 plants. Number three, kung ang pinagbabasehan niyo ay non-reporting, non-compliance, non-submission, and that was only done in 2009, so before that wala at kung ‘yun talaga ang basis niyo, 2020 na, wala akong nakikitang fines for unplanned outage.
RT: OK, pakipaliwanag Director Sharon ‘yung P60-M na sabi niyong naipataw niyo ng fines doon sa mga planta para saan ‘yon?
SM: Your Honors, the P60-M imposed violated the reliability indices. So, in the annex to that resolution, your Honors, there’s several days allowed na planned and unplanned outages.
CHIZ: I see it. I have it. But it doesn’t have amounts.
SM: Your Honors, we have rules on the imposition of fines and penalties and rules for this. We’ll just give it to you Your Honors but the process is upon us after the end of the year. Na-account na po naming lahat ng outages nila and if they exceed the number of allowed outages then they are issued an order to explain po.
CHIZ: Ma’am, sorry, I cannot let go of this, Mr. Chairman, I’m sorry. You came out with a resolution 10-2020, tapos ‘yung penalty nasa ibang resolution pa. Number two, why not include the same resolution? And number three, this resolution covers only 18 plants and in your reliability index, it does not include a single renewable power plant. Bakit tayo namimili ng—alam mo ‘yon—and we saw the lists. Mayroong renewable na nagbu-bug down so hindi na kasama ‘yon sa ipo-penalize natin sa unplanned? Because in your list, in your table, Ma’am, I have it. In your table, it does not include a single renewable, why?
SM: Your Honors, when we came up with that we gathered—that’s a five-year data po. When we set the reliability indices. We also came up with Resolution No. 13-2021 requires all these variable renewable energies to submit reports to us because we want to collect data. We also set the reliability indices.
CHIZ: Mr. Chairman, you see the problem now. They rely on the data being submitted by the power producers and they don’t, again, ano ii-installment niyo kami. So, before 2020 walang penalty ang unplanned shut down. Pagbabayaran na lang namin ‘yon sa brownout lugi negosyo. After 2020 you came out with the regulation even though EPIRA is decades old. You came out with the regulation but it only covers 18 plants. Most of it is fossil fuel-based, it’s not even covering all plants and covering none of the renewables. Paano naman po tayo magmo-move forward? Anong encouragement nung mga renewable mo na mag-ayos ng mga planta na hindi mag-unplanned shut down? And remember hydro is included as renewable.
Again, please catch up with what’s happening all around you. And as final point, Mr. Chairman, it’s been one month since the April 16 brownouts. Today is May 14, may 31 ‘yung May. To be issued pa lang ang show cause order at ang binanggit niyo po show cause pa nga lang ito, huwag naman. Isang buwan ang nangyaring yellow and red alert magsho-show cause order pa lang kayo? It cannot be that slow. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
RT: Pakisagot Director Sharon. Bakit tulad ng tanong kanina ni Senator Chiz. Bakit sa renewable wala kayong ginagawang monitoring, wala kayong ipinapatanong na sanctions doon sa mga nagva-violate? Kasi kung ganoong selective pala kayo, ini-exclude niyo ‘yung mga taga-RE.
SM: Your Honors, first on the 18 plants the reso those are the only gencos that submitted comments but the resolution applies to all po.
RT: To all including REs?
SM: Not including RE. The only RE included there—
RT: Bakit hindi kasama REs? Why did you exclude RE?
SM: Ang excluded lang po diyan are the variable RE which is solar and wind because we don’t have data on it pa, but we already gathered data from 2021 up to now for us to determine the reliability indices. So mayroon naman pong na-issue na resolution to gather the data, to start gathering the data, to set the reliability indices kasi medyo bago po kasi sila.
CHIZ: Again, Mr. Chairman, I submit but kindly work faster and catch up with what’s happening around us. You’re encouraging REs. You’re encouraging VREs. You’re shutting down most of the fossil fuel applications and yet you’re not ready to handle VREs. ‘Di ba kawawa naman tayo. Parang hindi kayo nag-uusap. Policy-wise po pushing VREs and then ‘yung regulatory regime, hindi nakakahabol. It cannot be that way. It cannot be that way, Mr. Chairman.
RT: Before I suspend this hearing, Senator Chiz came back because he said he would like to admonish someone in this, how will you say that?
CHIZ: Just to remind someone.
RT: OK. Go ahead. You may have the Floor, Senator.
CHIZ: Number one, I’m sure we don’t have what you are saying professor. The DOE does not have that right now. Number two, forget about the 25 percent reserve, it can be 200 percent for all I care. Again, supply and demand, the more supply the cheaper power cost will be. Sino ba nagsabing 25? Bakit hindi 30, bakit hindi 40, bakit hindi 50? Third point, meron tayong tatlong CSP for ancillary services that are still pending with ERC that’s why we can’t complete it. So ‘yung tanong ni Senator Sherwin kanina, pending sa ERC. And fourth point, Mr. Chairman, we required ancillary services for good cause para may reserve power nga naman but this is a take or pay provision, right? Whether gamitin o hindi babayaran, ‘di ba? Kinalimutan na natin ang take or pay noong panahon ni dating Pangulong Ramos, ‘di ba noong nag-IPP tayo, power purchase agreements. Ngayon bumabalik na naman tayo unti-unti sa take or pay regime na kahit ginamit natin o hindi babayaran natin. To cite an example of that Mr. Chairman, the ancillary services vary from 1 percent to 4 percent of your bill. Again, ulitin ko, depende sa buwan, ulitin ko gusto ba natin pababain ‘yung kuryente ito ba ‘yong solusyon talaga magte-take or pay tayo ulit tulad no’ng panahon ni dating Pangulong Ramos na kahit hindi natin kailangan ginagamit ‘yung kuryente, binabayaran natin and yet we still have yellow alerts, we still have red alerts. I don’t get it can we concentrate on lowering power cost and try to address other concerns and issues along the way. But the main objective, which is not even the medium-term development plant or even the power, the energy plan of the Philippines na ang target naming by 2030 ito na ang presyo ng kuryente, wala. Ang nakalagay doon renewable tayo. Ang nakalagay doon marami na tayong supply nothing, it does not speak of affordable power cost. CSP is good but how many of our contracts with DUs have CSPs already this was started only about five years ago. ‘Di ba, bakit ngayon lang naisipang mag-CSP? Dati nag-uusap lang ang powerplant, power generation company tsaka distribution utility nagkukutsabahan sila kung magkano icha-charge sa atin. No penalties about that
Anyway, Mr. Chairman sorry for the frustration. I’m sure our officials from DOE here are more frustrated than I am in so far as these issues are concerned and I hope then can do, they can come back to us with a solution to these concerns and problems. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.