THE Department of Justice (DOJ) has backed the passage of a proposed law in Congress that seeks to exempt power plants from the mandatory implementation of Republic Act (RA) 9367, or the Biofuels Act of 2006.
In a one-page legal opinion signed by Justice Undersecretary Zabedin M. Azis, the justice department noted that Senate Bill 2622 and House Bill 5587 intend to amend Section 5 of RA 9367 by exempting natural-gas plants from the requirement to use biodiesel in their operations.
The exemption intends to address the possible power shortages during the summer months, when the Malampaya plant and one block of the Ilijan plant in Batangas will be shut down for maintenance.
“To allow natural-gas plants to run on neat or pure diesel will help avoid rolling power outages, as it will make up for the limited capacity of the available units as when they are running on biodiesel only,” the DOJ said.
“This department does not see any legal objections to the approval of the enrolled bill granting exemption to natural-gas power plants under certain conditions,” Azis added. The DOJ issued the legal opinion upon the request of Deputy Secretary for Legal Affairs Menardo I. Guevarra.
Sen. Sergio R. Osmeña III, chairman of the Senate Energy Committee, earlier said exemption from the biofuels law would allow the Ilijan gas plant to deliver additional 160 megawatts.
But Osmeña said the exemption has limitations and could only be invoked when there is a supply shortage, as determined by the Department of Energy (DOE).
Other conditions include the pure or neat diesel as an alternative fuel of covered plants; the use of the pure or neat diesel will solely be for the production of electricity; and the exemption will be for the duration of the supply shortage only.