You plan to move to the Philippines? Wollen Sie auf den Philippinen leben?

There are REALLY TONS of websites telling us how, why, maybe why not and when you'll be able to move to the Philippines. I only love to tell and explain some things "between the lines". Enjoy reading, be informed, have fun and be entertained too!

Ja, es gibt tonnenweise Webseiten, die Ihnen sagen wie, warum, vielleicht warum nicht und wann Sie am besten auf die Philippinen auswandern könnten. Ich möchte Ihnen in Zukunft "zwischen den Zeilen" einige zusätzlichen Dinge berichten und erzählen. Viel Spass beim Lesen und Gute Unterhaltung!


Visitors of germanexpatinthephilippines/Besucher dieser Webseite.Ich liebe meine Flaggensammlung!

free counters

Google

Showing posts with label Brownouts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brownouts. Show all posts

Saturday, December 23, 2017

Paralyzed ERC warns of massive blackouts

By Danessa Rivera (The Philippine Star) | 

 0  33 googleplus1  2 
In the absence of a quorum as all its commissioners are temporarily out of work, the ERC would not be able to perform important judicial and quasi-legislative functions such as setting schedules for hearings, addressing consumer concerns and cases of violations by industry players of existing laws, issuing certificates of compliance or provisional authorities to operate power plants, and awarding of procurement contracts, among others. File
MANILA, Philippines — The year-long suspension of all four commissioners of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) will lead to “severe paralysis” of the entire power industry, possibly leaving many areas in Metro Manila and nearby provinces without electricity for long periods.
Newly appointed ERC chair and chief executive officer Agnes Devanadera raised the scenario in reaction to the suspension by the Office of the Ombudsman of commissioners Alfredo Non, Gloria Yap-Taruc, Josefina Patricia Magpale-Asirit and Geronimo Sta. Ana.
Malacañang, specifically the Office of the Executive Secretary, is considering dismissing the four officials and appointing their replacements to stave off disruption in ERC operations, according to presidential spokesman Harry Roque.
Devanadera yesterday said there are P1.59 billion worth of power service applications awaiting immediate attention. She said the cases against the suspended officials would affect the capital expenditures of firms involved in possible irregularities, including the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco).
“The brownouts and the blackouts, if we will not be able to act on the pending petitions, may not happen just in the provinces but also in Metro Manila. We also have safety issues we have to address. These capex consist usually of funds they need and must have the approval of ERC to continue their rehabilitation. We are so typhoon-prone. We cannot be holding action on this,” Devanadera pointed out.
“The debilitating impact of the ombudsman’s decision to suspend the four incumbent ERC commissioners will render the operations of the agency in severe paralysis,” she added.
Headlines ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1
“As a collegial body, the presence of at least three members of the commission is needed to constitute a quorum to enable the ERC to adopt any ruling, order, resolution, decision or other acts of the Commission in the exercise of its quasi-judicial and quasi-legislative functions,” she added.
The ERC is now seeking guidance from President Duterte – being the appointing authority – in the implementation of the ombudsman’s suspension order.
Citing the ombudsman’s office order No. 409, she said any decision on administrative cases should be implemented by the concerned government agencies.
In her statement, Devanadera stressed she was not recommending the withdrawal of the suspension order but was merely stating its impact on the ERC and on the whole power industry in general.
She said the agency has embarked on a zero backlog program, citing numerous applications still pending since 2009.
In the absence of a quorum as all its commissioners are temporarily out of work, the ERC would not be able to perform important judicial and quasi-legislative functions such as setting schedules for hearings, addressing consumer concerns and cases of violations by industry players of existing laws, issuing certificates of compliance or provisional authorities to operate power plants, and awarding of procurement contracts, among others.
There are also 135 power supply agreement applications worth P1.2 trillion awaiting action, including the seven PSA filings of Meralco.
Meanwhile, the accrued interest of the Feed-in Tariff Allowance (FIT-All) fund has already ballooned to P526.7 million.
“The longer we do not act on this, the more consumers will suffer. It does not mean, however, that whatever is stated in the application will be granted in toto. We usually do a haircut on applications after evaluation,” Devanadera said.
The ERC chief said the situation – if left to deteriorate – could place the government’s Build, Build, Build program in peril since major infrastructure projects require massive power supply.
“There is definitely an impact, especially we’re talking of trillions of pesos that will be put into the mainstream economy,” Devanadera said.
The Duterte administration is embarking on a three-year rolling infrastructure program amounting to P3.6 trillion from 2018 to 2020. Officials dubbed it the country’s “golden age” of infrastructure.
The Department of Energy (DOE) has set a new target of 43,765 megawatts (MW) of additional power capacity by 2040 in accordance with its long-term vision dubbed Ambisyon Natin 2040.
Until 2040, the country would need 25,265 MW of baseload power which could be sourced from coal, geothermal natural gas, nuclear, biomass and hydropower; 14,500 MW of mid-merit power from power sources such as natural gas; and 4,000 MW peaking power from diesel oil, wind and solar resources.
The DOE has been inviting foreign investors to invest in the Philippine power sector as the administration’s massive infrastructure program would require a huge amount of energy supply.
In an interview, Roque said Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea is examining the bases for the suspension of the four commissioners to determine if such bases could be used to justify their eventual dismissal.
Roque emphasized that Malacañang has the power to suspend or remove appointees. He maintained that the executive could not just let the four ERC commissioners serve their suspension as such would affect the functions of the commission.
He assured the public as well as industry players of uninterrupted work at the ERC, saying its chairman and CEO is not among those suspended. – Christina Mendez

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Brownouts Blamed For Crime Rise in Davao City


The long rotational brownouts are being blamed for a rise in crime in Davao City – by as much as 20 percent – with police noting the rising trend since the outages started, a Mindanao news site reported late Thursday.

Davao City police head Senior Superintendent Vicente Danao Jr. said the 20-percent rise negated a 35-percent drop in crime from the fourth quarter of 2013 to the first quarter of 2014.

“Stay home. If you really don’t have somewhere to go during the brownouts, don’t leave your homes because that’s when the criminals are taking advantage of the cover of darkness,” he advised residents, according to a report on MindaNews.

He also asked the Davao Light and Power Company (DLPC) to immediately address the power situation.

The DLPC had said Wednesday its power allocation was reduced by 18 megawatts, dropping power supply from 120MW last week to 102MW starting Wednesday.

Because of this, DLPC was forced to extend daily brownouts from six hours to seven-and-a-half hours.

Citing police data, Danao said most of the incidents committed since the brownouts started were crimes against persons and against property.

Police were also affected by the brownouts as "(w)e can’t see in the dark,” he added.

Even closed-circuit television cameras would be of little use as they may not be able to capture images in in the dark.

Anti-terror efforts

MindaNews also said Task Force Davao, a batallion tasked to combat terrorism in the city, is helping maintain peace and order.

Task Force Davao head Casiano Monilla said TFD has deployed seven four-member, two-motorcycle teams to help monitor the area, especially during brownouts.

Business

Meanwhile, a separate report on Davao Today said the brownouts have worsened effects on local businesses.

The report said traders had to buy more ice to preserve meat in abattoirs and pay workers of full salary for undertime work.

“Aside from the power failure, increased cost of labor and low productivity, the power cost is very high because the distributors have to buy from suppliers who are running their diesel-fired power generators,” local business leader Bonifacio Tan told Davao Today on Thursday.

Local traders have been mulling retrenchment of workers and cutting down on production to cope with lost working hours.

For its part, the City Council committee on energy (COE) has promoted alternative energy sources such as portable solar panels. By: Joel Locsin /LBG, GMA News

Saturday, April 6, 2013

POWER SHORTAGES IN MINDANAO

This is a re-published editorial from MINDANAO DAILY MIRROR from April 6, 2013 with friendly permission of Publisher Ms. Marietta Siongco:

REASSURING

It's very reassuring to hear that Davao Light and Power Corp. is more than ready for power shortages particularly in Davao City. While other cities and provinces in Mindanao are suffering from 8 to 16 hours power blackouts due to depletion of hydropower sources in Mindanao, Davao City and parts of Davao del Norte will likely continue to enjoy blackout-free days and nights.

We cannot imagine how horrible and terrible it is to live even one day of 16 hours at the most sans electricity. Just think of the devastating consequences to the economy an the sizzling summer heat so unbearable it zaps one's energy and leaves one wilting.

How will Davao Light do it? According to the DLPC spokesman Ross Luga at a presscon, the company has set up contingency plans to cushion the impact of power shortages. Also the DLPC will try its best not to resort to rotating brownouts. 

...

Well and good for the ever efficient Davao Light and its highly competent people. Let's hope, however, al measures will not translate into sky-high cost of electricity or if ever only at minimal cost. With the spiralling prices of everything, another added enormous burden to the public would be unconscionable if not downright cruel.


Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Brownouts to Persist in Mindanao till 2016?

BAD NEWS FOR ALL OF US IN MINDANAO? This is written by PNA-Philippine News Agency...
 
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—Electricity consumers in Mindanao would have to endure continued power outages until 2016, when the construction of new coal-fired power plants goes full steam, it was learned over the weekend.
The energy committee of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) reached this conclusion last week after reviewing the government’s responses to resolutions on tackling issues in the power and fuel sector that were submitted to President Aquino at the conclusion of the 2012 Philippine Business Conference.
Mindanao, except the cities of Davao and Cagayan de Oro, endures daily power shortages that result in brownouts.
Robert Calilim, chairman of the PCCI’s sub-committee on power, told representatives of the power sector in Mindanao, as well as some of the country’s biggest power companies, that a solution could be adopted if the government activates the hydroelectric generators in the area during peak hours.
In his presentation, Calilim, also a senior executive of the power-generation subsidiary of San Miguel Corp., boldly proposed making coal-fired geothermal and diesel plants the baseload electricity generators.
He said hydropower plants along the Agus and Polangi rivers in Bukidnon province should only be used during peak hours.
Calilim explained that the peak-hour requirements of Mindanao totals only 1,279 megawatts, much lower than the generating capacity of power-generating plants in the area that was initially computed at over 1,600 megawatts.
“The region has excess capacity of 400 megawatts. There should be no shortage there,” he said.
This approach to the brownout problem has not been taken, however, because of an existing policy that requires using the hydropower plants as baseload generators. This means the electricity these produce will be used first.
According to Calilim, this policy continues to be observed because the electricity produced by the dams is much cheaper than other energy sources.
A trade-off will be necessary, and consumers will have to pay about P1 more per kilowatt-hour with the diesel plants, including power barges deployed there once the power crisis starts to worsen.
Calilim assured, though, the sacrifice would be temporary. Once coal-fired plants are connected to the grid, these will replace diesel plants as baseload sources of power.

Saturday, March 24, 2012

The Summer is Back - and Blackouts in The Philippines!

One of my previous columns in Mindanao Daily Mirror was entitled "Summer is back". Yes, summer is back in the Philippines - and the daily blackouts - or "brownouts"... .

After being able to avoid the rotating power outages for the past two months, Davao Light and Power company may now be forced to implement rotating brownouts within its franchise as the national Grid Cooperation of the Philippines has announced an increase in the Mindanao-wide power curtailment at a level of 320 MW.

While other areas in Mindanao have reportedly been experiencing long durations of brownouts, Davao Light customers may only experience 30-minutes rotating outages due to reserve power supply that it has contracted from Independent Power producers as part of its contingency plans to address power shortages.

Allow me to quote Florencio A. Ranido, Mindanao Daily Mirror Editorial Consultant: 

"Dabawenyos from all walks of life should be thankful for the far sightedness of Davao Light and Power company in particular and the Aboitiz Power Corp., its mother firm, in general. For quite a while, some areas in Mindanao, especially General Santos City, Sarangani provinces and the adjacent municipalities of Polomok and Tupi in South Cotabato have been experiencing one and a half hours of rotation brownouts daily."

Very well said, Sir. And, it's true, I just experienced during my stays in this area last week... .