Crime busters

Senator Alan Peter Cayetano stayed true to form during the vice presidential debate sanctioned by the Commission on Election (Comelec) last Sunday in partnership with CNN Philippines.

At the Senate, he is admired for his ability to effectively grill and extract information from witnesses and resource persons during Senate investigations. He always comes prepared for these hearings in aid of legislation and is wellversed in the art of cross examination.

During the vice-presidential debate, he used his debating skills to point out the sins of the Marcos family and to remind Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., who is also running for vice-president, about his family’s obligation to return the money stolen from the Filipino people.

Cayetano warned that the $10 billion stolen by the Marcoses may balloon to $100 billion if Bongbong is elected vicepresident, even as he emphasized that unless the corrupt are barred from public office, the thieving would not stop and there will be no real change benefiting ordinary Filipinos.

CNN’s own online poll, as well as Rappler’s survey, showed that Cayetano inspired viewers of the debate enough for them to pick him as the best among the other vice presidential bets.

UP professor and political analyst Ranjit Rye agreed that Cayetano shone bright in the debate and that he expects Cayetano to sway to his side the still undecided voters.

Rye said Cayetano proved a perfect match for toughtalking presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte.

Cayetano has emphasized that it is only their tandem that has vowed to stop drugs and crime in six months because any economic growth will be meaningless if the people do not feel safe at home or on the streets.

Filipinos no longer feel safe. They want to stop being afraid. There are those who believe that the Duterte-Cayetano tandem is the only one right now that appears sincere in its bid to stop crime and corruption, that Duterte can take care of the crime and drug aspect while Cayetano as vice-president can deal with the anti-corruption campaign part.

There are those do not care how they will do it so long as it is done.

Give solar a fighting chance

In order to promote the development of renewable energy sources, the Renewable Energy Act mandated the formulation of the feed-in tariff program or FIT for electricity produced from biomass, ocean, run-of-river hydropower, solar, and wind energy sources.

FIT is an energy supply policy focused on supporting the development of new renewable energy projects, providing among others for a fixed tariff to be paid for electricity produced from each type of renewable energy resource for a period of 20 years.

FIT offers cost-based compensation to these renewable energy players among other perks. In turn, the FIT payments will be recovered from end-consumers via the FIT charge that appears in our electricity bills.

The incentives are granted on a first-come-first served basis with the quota cap set every three years. Among these incentives are priority dispatch in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) and a fixed rate of P8.69 per kilowatt hour.

Once the installation target is met, no new FITs will be given for that period with plants outside the FIT scheme having to sell their output at market prices, rendering them no longer competitive.

During the first contracting round, the Department of Energy (DOE) increased the installation target allocation of solar energy from 50 megawatts in 2013 to 108 megawatts in 2014 in recognition of the investments and contribution of solar companies in the energy mix.

For the second contracting round whose deadline ended last March 15, the quota for FIT-eligible power plants is 400 megawatts. This brings the total to around 500 megawatts to date. There is a problem though. The way the FIT system works, these power plants have to built first before they can apply for the incentives.

And so ever since the FIT system was implemented, 750 megawatts of solar power plant capacity was installed, of which 100 MW was given incentives under the first round under the first build policy and 400 MW under the second round. This leaves 250 MW without incentives.

But one may be tempted to ask? If the industry players knew that only 500 MW will be given FIT incentives, then why overbuild?

According to the Philippine Solar Power Alliance (PSPA), the National Renewable Energy Board kept the industry in the dark as to how much capacity has already been built, while telling the industry to just build and build because the 400 MW quota under the second round hasn’t been reached.

During the first week of March, it was learned that PSPA sought a dialogue but the NREB refused to meet saying that PSPA’s letter-request was strongly worded.

It was only after the March 15 deadline when the industry learned that there was an overcapacity of 250 MW that was not entitled to incentives. According to the PSPA, had government been more transparent, then this would not have happened.

What PSPA now wants is for the entire 750 megawatts of installed solar capacity be entitled to FIT, including the 250 MW excess.

Solar energy players want government to consider the industry’s contribution in adding capacity to the grid, in hedging against future price increase of electricity, and in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

In a statement, PSPA acknowledged the DOE’s commitment in promoting renewable energy sources, in particular increasing the supply of solar to the national grid, from 50 to 500 MW as well as the resounding success attained by the program as evidenced by the 750 MW solar installation in less than two years.

PSPA has appealed to the government to find a win-win solution in addressing the 650 MW addition of solar capacity to the second contracting round of the solar FIT program.

PSPA president Tetchi Capellan pointed out that today, injecting more solar into the grid helps increase capacity given the current tightness in supply.

Capellan noted that close to 50 companies were awarded solar service contracts in order to develop projects in a span of less than 24 months, with the total combined capacity of these contracts reaching almost three gigawatts in 2015. Holders of these service contracts were issued Certificates of Commerciality (CoCoC) with a combined capacity totalling around 750 MW.

PSPA, in a statement, cited a study by international energy expert consultancy The Lantau Group which forecasted an increase in oil prices to $60 per barrel by 2018, and $100 per barrel in 2020. Lantau estimated that solar energy yields significant fuel cost savings of about eight percent, making for a compelling case for adding solar capacity into the national grid.

The group also cited a Board of Investments (BOI) report which showed that of the P366.7 billion total worth of investments in 2015, about P246.42 billion, or 67 percent, came from renewables.

Lantau in its report has recommended a two gigawatt capacity addition of solar in Visayas and Luzon by 2018.

The group emphasized that solar companies deserve to qualify for the incentives afforded by the Renewable Energy Law and appealed to government to recognize the role of solar energy in adding capacity to the national grid and in helping avert possible brownouts.

It asked the DOE for prudence in disqualifying completed solar projects, stressing that these companies pour in billions of pesos into solar projects and their possible disqualification from the RE incentives not only denies the investors the opportunity to recover their capital but also kills the momentum created by the DOE and erodes investors’ confidence.

It would seem unfair that these companies are required to build first, only to find out later that they do not qualify for FIT. There must be some other way to accept more players into the solar FIT regime without government having to pass on the cost to the consumers.

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