Two Task Forces to Ensure Power for May Elections

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The Department of Energy (DOE) together with Task Force Member Agencies is in full force to ensure reliable, stable, and secure during the critical summer period and May local and national elections.

“We have two operational task forces –the Power Task Force Election and the Inter-Agency Task Force on Securing Energy Facilities–in which various national agencies and power stakeholders are conducting preparatory works, maintenance, and monitoring among other tasks just to provide power supply come election period,” said Energy Secretary Zenaida Y. Monsada. This follows as the government recognizes that the provision of electricity is crucial in striving for clean and unquestionable elections, especially that it is automated.

Upon the deputization of Commission on Elections on the DOE, National Electrification Administration, National Power Corporation, National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) and the local electric cooperatives, the Power Task Force Election was created for the delivery of adequate, stable and reliable power supply before, during and after the national and local elections on May 9, 2016 by ensuring availability and operation of power plants and electricity market, carrying out strategic preventive maintenance of all power facilities, and providing enough technical manpower for emergency response and security of vital power infrastructures, among others.

Likewise, it has to be recalled that President Benigno S. Aquino III has created in February the Inter-Agency Task Force on Securing Energy Facilities (IATFSEF) to address the bombing incidents involving the transmission facilities that apparently escalated late last year, and the right-of-way issues faced by NGCP.

Strong Support for Philippine Renewable Energy Industry

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In pursuit of its mandate of providing a comprehensive energy plan, the Department of Energy (DOE) strongly supports the increased use of renewable energy (RE) in the country under a level playing field and transparent implementation of incentives, such as the Feed-In-Tariff (FIT) Program, which are key indicators for this.

Under the FIT System, qualified developers of emerging RE sources are offered on a fixed rate per kilowatt-hour (kWh) of their exported electricity to the distribution or transmission network. This scheme excludes the energy utilized from RE plants eligible for own use.

Energy Secretary Zenaida Y. Monsada said that “the government prioritizes energy security, and RE is one of the major contributors to increase the power supply especially that we are also moving towards clean energy technology.”

The DOE highlights that FIT subscriptions for RE resources has significantly increased to 806.82 MW from 646.65 MW installations since the start of 2016. The following are the FIT subscriptions to date: biomass has 11 power plants with a total capacity of 94.25 MW; hydro has four (4) accounting for 26.60 MW; wind has six (6) accounting for 393.90 MW.

Philippine Investments Towards a Digital Nation

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Five years after its successful network modernization program that saw mobile data exploding in the Philippines, Globe Telecom embarks on another nationwide infrastructure program that would enhance the country's Internet experience within homes and across businesses.

Globe announced that the bulk of the $750 million capex this year would be allotted to deploy fiber optic cables in 20,000 barangays all over the country to provide faster and more reliable Internet access in about 2 million homes nationwide. The infrastructure build is expected to take 5 years and will extend network coverage to more areas that currently have no connection or spotty service.

“Data access is currently one of the most important drivers of economic competitiveness and growth. For the Philippines to fully take advantage of new digital opportunities, we need to create an Internet superhighway and provide ultra-fast internet connection that will enable growth in every corner of our country. We want to make use of technological innovations to make Internet service experience at par with other countries in the world,” Globe President & CEO Ernest Cu said. He emphasized that elsewhere in the world, new digital trends such as cloud computing, mobile web services and e-commerce are already radically changing the digital landscape.

In line with its vision of ushering in a digital nation, the network build will also increase the capacity of its network for both mobile and wirelines using different technologies including 3G, LTE and even Wi-Fi. It will likewise replace the old copper wires that have been used for wireline connections in the past.