DOE, PEZA To Facilitate Development of Regional Ecozones

Wazzup Pilipinas!

In a bid to attract more investments into the country, the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the accelerated development of regional economic zones or ecozones with the assurance of a reliable and reasonably-priced supply of electricity.

According to Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi, “the MOU is an initiative consistent with the long-term economic vision of President Rodrigo Duterte known as ‘Ambisyon 2040’ and complements his 10-point socio-economic agenda.”

“Energy policies will be developed to facilitate the reduction of the cost of doing business in the country, including the ecozones," he added.

“Energy efficiency programs, like the adoption of the Energy Management Systems (ISO 50001), will be given importance to help the locator companies to be more efficient in their use of energy resources. This will result in lower power costs to sustain the companies’ competitiveness, while also encouraging the establishment of more energy efficient ecozones in the country,” Cusi said.

Cusi also underscored the importance of policies that would streamline the permitting processes for energy projects, to ensure stable and reliable supply of energy to drive the economic activities in the ecozones.

The MOU was signed by DOE Undersecretary Benito L. Ranque representing Secretary Cusi and PEZA Director General Charito B. Plaza on 2 February 2017 in Davao City.

“With the MOU in place, the country can expect the flow of critical investment which in the long-run creates more job opportunities and spur rural development,” Cusi said.

Malampaya Shutdown Safely Completed

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Following collaborative efforts of stakeholders, Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi announced today (17 Feb.) that the Malampaya scheduled maintenance shutdown has been completed safely and ahead of schedule.

“The measures undertaken helped avert any power outage as a result of the Malampaya shutdown," said Cusi.

"Throughout the Malampaya downtime, the power supply reserve was maintained at normal levels. We are grateful for having hurdled the critical period that could have resulted in the issuance of grid alerts," he added.

The Malampaya consortium reported Thursday that natural gas supply is readily available for use by its natgas plant customers. Comprising the consortium are Shell Philippines Exploration B.V., Chevron Malampaya LLC and PNOC Exploration Corporation.

"The consortium also reported that all maintenance activities were done taking into account the safety of all personnel,” Cusi said.

The DOE said the Malampaya Gas to Power Project supplies natural gas to five natural gas power plants located in Batangas, namely Sta. Rita (1,000 MW), San Lorenzo (500 MW), Ilijan (1,200 MW), Avion (97 MW), and San Gabriel (414 MW).

Meanwhile, Cusi emphasized that the public should continue to adopt energy efficiency and conservation practices, as these have greatly contributed in cushioning the impact of the shutdown on power supply.

"The DOE will aggressively pursue demand-side management in consonance with the thrust of legislators in yesterday's Joint Congressional Power Committee hearing to move towards the same direction," Cusi said.

NEC to Provide Cyber-Attack Defense Training for Six ASEAN Countries

Wazzup Pilipinas!

NEC Corporation announced that it received an order from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to provided cyber-attack defense for officials from governmental institutions responsible for cyber security in six members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) (Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines and Vietnam). The first round of the training is scheduled from February 20 to March 3, 2017.

Damage due to cyber-attacks has recently been spreading globally. Given the increasingly serious damage attributable to such targeted attacks on governmental organizations and critical infrastructure, there is a growing necessity to take measures to improve cyber security capabilities.

This defense training, which will take place in Japan over a three year period, aims to improve incident response, including the early discovery and detection of damage, as well as the implementation of countermeasures to targeted cyber-attacks on ASEAN countries. Training sessions feature lectures on the latest threats and security measures, as well as drills similar to the Cyber Defense Exercise with Recurrence (CYDER), which are practical cyber-attack defense drills that have been conducted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications in Japan since 2013.

These drills will be carried out in environments that simulate targeted attacks on governmental organizations. This provides opportunities for learning how to address cyber-attacks through actual experience with a series of incident-handling processes, such as the discovery and reporting of incidents, the identification, isolation, and analysis of problematic areas, and the confirmation of damage. In addition, opportunities will be provided to tour leading-edge cyber security-related facilities in Japan according to the tour programs of the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) and the Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST).

“JICA is proud to be contributing to this collaboration between Japan and ASEAN countries in the reinforcement of cyber security,” said Mr. Juichiro Sasaki, Director General, JICA Tokyo International Center. “We look forward to sharing the latest technology and security information through state-of-the-art practices implemented in this ‘Knowledge Co-Creation Program’ in Japan.”

“The improvement of cyber security plays an important role in NEC’s provision of ‘Solutions for Society,’” said Mr. Kazuhiko Shiraishi, General Manager, National Security Solutions Division, NEC Corporation. “Going forward, we will continue these efforts by providing drills, products and services for cyber defense to a large number of organizations, including governmental institutions and critical infrastructure providers, both in Japan and internationally.”