THE Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) has signed up a total of 171 megawatts (MW) of committed interruptible load (CIL) capacity from various Interruptible Load Program (ILP) participants.
Taipan Place Condominium Association Inc. and Icec Land Corp. are the latest to join the roster of participants, the utility firm said.
Meralco Utility Economics Head Lawrence Fernandez said it has signed up 1.5 MW from Taipan Place and 2.4 MW from Icec Land.
ILP works by calling on business customers with loads of at least 1 MW to run their own generator sets, if needed, instead of drawing power from the grid.
With the ILP, power supply from the grid that will not be consumed by participating customers will be available for use by other customers within the franchise area. Through this, the aggregate demand for power from the system will be reduced to a more manageable level, helping ensure the availability of supply during the anticipated power crisis next year.
“A growing number of commercial and industrial companies are heeding the Department of Energy’s [DOE] call to participate in the ILP—a demand-side management solution regarded as one of the countermeasures meant to help mitigate the projected power-supply strain in the summer months of 2015,” Meralco said.
As of November 14, 30 companies have signed up to join ILP, with a combined deloading capacity of 171 MW.
The deadline for ILP sign-up is on December 1.
Meralco said it continues to solicit further participation from its business customers. “The DOE and Meralco sounded a clarion call for nationalism for big power users to take part in the ILP and help address the power-supply situation.”
Among the ILP participants include SM Prime Holdings Inc., which has committed 57.96 MW; Robinsons Land Corp., 23.15 MW; Waltermart malls, 14.30 MW; Ayala Land Inc., 9 MW; Rustan’s Supercenters Inc., 8.66 MW; Shangri-La Plaza Corp., 7 MW; Alphaland Development Inc., 4.5 MW; Megaworld Corp., 4 MW; and Ortigas & Co., 4 MW.
Meralco said last month that its customers may have to pay an additional 7.5 centavos per kilowatt- hour (kWh) in monthly generation charge so the utility firm can compensate ILP participants for the power-generation capacity that they are willing to deload.
Meralco needs to compensate its ILP participants for the expenses, particularly fuel, they will incur when they operate their own generator sets instead of sourcing power from the grid.
The utility firm estimates a P200-million payment for every 300 MW of accumulated CIL capacity from the ILP participants. Meralco, in turn, would have to pass this on to its customers.
“It’s a 7.5 centavos per kWh rate impact on the gen charge per 300-MW deloaded for five hours a day on all weekdays for one month. Thus, if only 200 MW is deloaded, then the rate impact would be around five centavos per kWh,” Fernandez said.
Additional generating capacity
Meralco also announced it has secured as much as 64 MW of additional power-generating capacity from two units of Global Business Power Corp. (GBPC) to meet the growing demand of its customers.
The utility firm signed on November 14 two interim power supply Agreement (IPSAs) with Toledo Power Corp. for up to 28 MW, with an option for additional 9 MW more, and with Panay Power Corp. for up to 27 MW.
The said IPSAs are subject to approval of the Energy Regulatory Commission and shall expire in July 31, 2015, unless sooner terminated or extended by the parties.
The IPSAs were entered into to address the forecasted supply constraint and mitigate the company’s exposure to the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) during the summer months of 2015 and as part of Meralco’s continuing efforts to source additional capacities through interim bilateral contracts with power producers with available contracted capacity.
Meralco President Oscar Reyes said last week that the company plans to secure 529 MW of additional capacity via IPSAs from GBPC, 1590 Energy Inc., Panasia Energy Inc. and AP Renewables Inc.
“We will sign contracts with Global Power, Bauang and Limay. Also, with Makban for an additional 50 MW, which is a new one,” Reyes said.
Meralco’s IPSAs are meant to lessen the utility firm’s exposure to the WESM, the country’s electricity trading floor.
For the October supply month, Meralco sourced 5 percent of its total power requirements from the WESM, while independent power producers and power supply agreements accounted for 47 percent and 48 percent, respectively.
Based on the DOE’s latest projection, Luzon would need at least 678 MW of additional capacity to cover both shortages and minimum reserves next year.
Lenie Lectura