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FRIDAY, JUNE 29, 2018 advertise@manilastandard.net
STRENGTHENING PHILIPPINE UTILITY SERVICES FOR RAPID ECONOMIC GROWTH (POWER AND WATER SERVICES)
Ensuring a stronger power utility in PH By Angelica Villanueva and Charles Dantes
P
OWER, considered as one of the basic utility services in the country, continues to become more significant as it remains essential to improve the people’s quality of life in emerging economies. Through the years, a steady increase in demand in various sectors such as business, transportation, agriculture, and in households, leads to the need of a sound power utility infrastructure to address the needs of all sectors. Back in 2016, the Department
of Energy released a report stating a significant 10% growth in electricity consumption due to several factors like the El Niño phenomenon and the National elections in the same year. From high demands of Filipinos utilizing cooling equipment
to beat the heat, to the need to maintain a clean and orderly election, power consumption peaked at 8.7%. Role of private power utilities We all know the drill, power utilities are companies that engage in distributing and generating electricity in different areas. Yet, there are more significant roles that power utilities corporations have. “It ensures adequate access to basic services that individuals in this age cannot live without,” said Alsons Power Group in a statement forwarded to the Manila Standard. National Power Corporation, a corporation controlled and owned by the government, encourages the private sectors through EPIRA or RA 19136 “to infuse private capital in the power industry.” Napocor also fortifies the backbone of Philippines’ utility services in terms of power. Meanwhile, the Energy Regulatory Commission regulates the rate that will be charged to all electricity end users. Moreover, ERC ensures that these electricity end users are charged with the approved subsidized rate “to sustain the true cost of generation of their facilities.” Strengthening power utilities To improve the lives of Filipinos, power enterprises guarantee that they will continue to boost the country’s power utility services. Napocor emphasizes that aside
from being an economic driver for development, having a strong power utility can attract local and foreign investors. And the government cannot do it alone. Based on EPIRA, private sectors are encouraged to instill private capital in improving and strengthening the power industry. Moreover, while the government provides the policies like EPIRA, these private sectors produce the goods and services and provide jobs that boost the economy. With that, private enterprises such as Alsons Power Group, Roxas Holdings, Inc., and the Energy Development Corporation have their ways of showing their support for our power facilities. Alsons Power, being Mindanao’s first independent power producer, provides safe, reliable and affordable power to over eight million people in 13 cities and 8 provinces in the region. In an email sent to Manila Standard, Alsons Power revealed that near the site of the Sarangani Energy Power Plant, in Maasim, Sarangani, they are engaged in the largest watershed protection project of its kind in the country to provide forest cover for the Siguil and Kamanga River watersheds. The project encompasses an area of 7,500 hectares which is larger than the City of Manila and almost twice the size of Makati. With the continued high demand for power, Roxas Holdings, Inc. partners not just with the government in helping to strengthen the
country’s power industry, but also collaborates with its communities and stakeholders with their corporate social responsibility campaigns. Just like Roxas Holdings, EDC, being the largest producer of geothermal energy in the country, also contributes to fortify the backbone of the power utility sector. Recently, to magnify their CSR campaign, EDC has launched its BINHI program, “a species conservation program that focuses on native tree species.” Through this campaign, their mission is not just to plant native tree species but also to multiply and propagate them. Filipino citizens are also welcome to participate in strengthening power facility. Private sectors of the power industry encourage people to participate in their CSR campaigns that can contribute to reinforcing the power utilities. Empowering power for a rapid growth As the high demand for power continues to rise, the more the government and private sectors need to improve and develop our power
utilities. Government-owned Napocor is planning to put generation and transmission facilities to electrify all missionary areas not connected to the three major grids of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao that will result in the total electrification of the Philippines. As for the private sectors, higher quality forms of infrastructures and more innovative solutions are expected to be prepared in the future for a stronger power facility. But, are we prepared and how well-prepared our country is for more power industry projects and innovations? Napocor said that the Philippine power industry is very much matured. However, what the country needs are grants, soft loans and innovative solutions from neighboring countries to effectively implement the necessary power projects. We already have the power sources that we need, what we must have is the support not just by other neighboring countries, but local investors who are willing to take the risk in developing and innovating what we have.
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FRIDAY, JUNE 29, 2018 advertise@manilastandard.net
STRENGTHENING PHILIPPINE UTILITY SERVICES FOR RAPID ECONOMIC GROWTH (POWER AND WATER SERVICES)
LWUA bats for lone water services department
LWUA ADMINISTRATOR JECI LAPUS
By Gianne Mae Antonio and Mar Jensen Arinto FOR former congressman Jeci Lapus, the water system in the Philippines is fragmented. Like an orchestra, he said there should be a conductor to ensure that everybody is in sync to produce impeccable harmony. For Lapus, there should be one governing body to address all water-related issues. Currently, there are several water agencies in the country such as the National Irrigation Authority for irrigation; Laguna Lake Development Authority for preservation and management of Laguna de Bay; Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System for water privatization in Metro Manila; and the Local Water Utilities Administration for managing water management outside Metro Manila. Amid the Duterte administration’s “Build Build Build” program, LWUA Acting Administrator Lapus pushed for the creation of a water department that will regulate water districts in providing faster, simpler and more efficient delivery services of safe drinking water to Filipinos nationwide. “First and foremost is how do we sustain safe water for us? Wherever we go, water is an essential need… There’s no point in Build Build Build if you’re dead; so we have to sustain life first,” Lapus said in an interview with the Manila Standard. Under this plan, one department will be able to control and manage water, irrigation, sewerage, and sanitation -- compared to the present situation where there are various agencies managing water-related matters.
The proposal for a unified water department is currently being discussed at the legislative department. Lapus said that similar to the Department of Transportation and Department of Energy, a water department is being eyed by some lawmakers with the support of LWUA itself. He also emphasized that the private sector can help in improving the country’s utility services for they have the capital and resources to undertake big projects which the government cannot provide as of the present. Aside from funds, the private sector also has the manpower to oversee whether utility services are being run at optimal levels. This will make it easier to reach out to millions of households all over the country that still receive unstable water connections since they would be dealing only with one agency. “Water is very essential in our life,” said Lapus. “It is the most crucial as man can live without electricity or communication lines, but cannot survive for more than 3 days without drinking water.” The agency’s main objective is to provide safe drinking water to all Filipinos. As of the moment, LWUA has over 520 water districts in the country, catering up to 21% of the Filipino population. LWUA is continuously undertaking projects to provide safer water to Filipinos in the countryside to ensure sound utility service for the people. Their projects include water quality improvement, water supply development and expansion, and watershed management. Despite LWUA’s efforts to ensure that most Filipinos have access to safe drinking water, Lapus admitted that LWUA alone cannot sustain sound utility service for the people. Lapus believes that the creation of the water department will be the solution to make various water agencies to “act as one,” in order to provide Filipinos a better service. On the other hand, he also guaranteed that his agency is constantly in touch with other neighboring countries in pooling knowledge, technology, and resources to improve utility services in the Philippines. Established back in 1973, LWUA is a government-owned and controlled corporation with a specialized lending function mandated by law to promote and oversee the development of water supply systems in provincial cities and municipalities outside Metro Manila.
Inaugurated last April, the EDC-BINHI Vegetative Material Reproduction nursery in Antipolo uses a state-of-the-art, automated mist irrigation system that mimics natural forest habitat conditions, which increases the survival rates of the seedlings. It can house a total of 50,000 seedlings at a time, addressing the needs of the BINHI program’s partners in Luzon for these seedlings.
EDC inaugurates Vegetative Material Reproduction nurseries in Antipolo, Negros GEOTHERMAL leader Energy Development Corporation marks another milestone with the inauguration of two Vegetative Material ReproductionNurseries in Antipolo City, Rizal and in Valencia, Negros Oriental last April 20. In support of EDC’s BINHI program, the company’s corporate greening initiative, EDC constructed state-of-the-art VMR Nurseries to restore 1,000 hectares of denuded forests and bring back the abundance of the country’s premium threatened native tree species within 10 years. EDC’s BINHI team has already identified, located, and collected samples of 96 targeted threatened native tree species and have sought out to propagate them. As the company aims to plant more native trees throughout the country, “the first VMR nursery in Luzon was built in Antipolo to serve the big and ever-growing demand for our native trees in the region. It can house a total of 50,000 seedlings at a time,” said Ricky Carandang, EDC’s Vice President for Corporate Affairs.
The VMR facility in Negros Oriental will serve the need for native seedlings of EDC’s BINHI partners in the Visayan region and its 10 million in 10 years for a Greener Negros movement partners who have committed to plant, grow, and maintain at least 10 million trees in 10 years to grow back the forests in Negros island. To date, EDC has 152 partners from 16 regions around the country who have pledged to plant and nurture native trees in addition to the 6.3 million seedlings that the company has already planted since 2008. With the establishment of the two VMR nurseries, EDC intends to multiply the endangered tree species in secluded spaces to safekeep the seedlings. The seeds planted in the nursery will be used to grow mother trees to ensure the survival of high-value and fast-dwindling native trees. “Most of the species have limited stocks while some are not prolific seed producers. Mother trees are needed in our gene bank and this is where this scientific
approach is useful,” said Jay Joel L. Soriano, head of EDC’s Negros Island Geothermal Business Unit (NIGBU). Both nurseries utilize an automated mist irrigation system that can be programmed automatically to activate the mist irrigation at an accurate time and percent moisture content to mimic the conditions of a natural forest habitat. With EDC’s mission to promote a sustainable environment for the future, EDC and its partners are proud of successfully propagating, nurturing, and growing native tree species that have evidently grown in numbers. To widen the reach of the BINHI program, EDC further reveals its plans to build another automated nursery in its Mt. Apo Geothermal Business Unit in North Cotabato to better serve its partners in Mindanao.EDC is the world’s largest vertically integrated geothermal company and the only diversified renewable energy firm in the country, with an installed total capacity of 1,456.8MW of purely renewable energy.