$500M e-tricycle project to start this year

By: Amy R. Remo
Philippine Daily Inquirer

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The Asian Development Bank is set to start implementing this year the $500-million electric tricycle project, which will see the rollout of as many as 100,000 units within the next four years.

Of the funding, $300 million will come from the ADB, $100 million from the Philippine government, and another $100 million from the Clean Technology Fund.

Sohail Hasnie, principal energy specialist at the ADB, told reporters that the prequalification of suppliers and/or manufacturers for the project was expected to start next month.

Before the end of this year, Hasnie said he was expecting at least 100 of these e-trikes to start plying Philippine roads.

The main plan was to initially roll out 20,000 units on key islands, such as Boracay and Puerto Princesa, and in some parts of Metro Manila. After this, a study will be conducted to determine whether the use of e-trikes works according to the project objectives and yields the benefits targeted by the ADB and the Philippine government.

Only after the initial batch is proven successful will the ADB proceed with the rollout of the remaining 80,000 units, he added.

According to Hasnie, the ADB is also looking into putting up five pilot charging stations to ensure the viability and sustainability of the e-trikes project. The target, he added, was to make sure that the cost of power used by the e-trikes would be much lower than the cost of fuel used by regular tricycles.

At present, more than 3.5 million motorized tricycles are operating in the country, producing more than 10 million tons of carbon dioxide and using nearly $5 billion worth of imported fuel yearly.

Philippines may soon own vast gas-rich area

By Cathy Yamsuan
Philippine Daily Inquirer

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BENHAM’S RICHES The Philippines is the only claimant to 13 million hectares of an undersea region that contains huge natural gas deposits.

The Philippines will gain 13 million hectares in additional territory, an area slightly smaller than Luzon, should the United Nations approve next year the government’s claim on a region off the coast of Isabela and Aurora, Environment Secretary Ramon Jesus Paje said on Monday.

Paje said the undersea region, called Benham Rise, could turn the Philippines into a natural gas exporter because of the area’s huge methane deposits.

Studies conducted by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) for the past five years indicate large deposits of methane in solid form, Paje said after a Senate budget hearing.

The government is only awaiting a formal declaration from the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea (Unclos) that Benham Rise is on the country’s continental shelf and therefore part of its territory, Paje said.

Legal basis

Once the Unclos establishes that Benham Rise is part of the Philippines, “we would have legal basis to enter into exploration agreements with private companies to explore… (the area’s) resources,” said Sen. Franklin Drilon, chair of the chamber’s finance committee.

Drilon said a favorable Unclos declaration would mean “increasing our territory from present 30 million hectares to possibly 43 million” with the inclusion of Benham Rise.

Discussion over Benham Rise generated excitement especially after Paje said that Philippine representatives were just awaiting one more meeting “to answer questions” before a special Unclos committee.

Only claimant

Paje said there was no reason for the Unclos committee not to issue a decision favorable to the country “since we are the only claimant, unlike in the western side (where the Spratly Islands are).”

“We have submitted a claim under (Unclos) sometime in late 2008. We got a reply from the UN lately (asking us) to answer some questions. They intend to pass a resolution sometime in mid-2012 to approve our claim (that it is) part of the Philippine continental shelf,” Paje told reporters after the hearing.

Records showed that the Philippines officially submitted a claim with the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf in New York on April 8, 2009.

Davide submission

Hilario Davide, then Philippine ambassador to the United Nations, filed the country’s partial submission with the commission.

The United Nations says the continental shelf is “the seabed and subsoil of the submarine areas that extend beyond its territorial sea” up to 370 km (200 nautical miles) from the archipelagic baseline. An extended continental shelf goes farther than 370 km.

The Philippines claims that Benham Rise is an extension of its continental shelf.

Paje said Benham Rise was within the country’s 370-km exclusive economic zone.

American geologist

The environment secretary said an American geologist surnamed Benham discovered the area that was between 40 and 2,000 meters below the waterline in 1933.

“But we are able to define categorically that it is attached to our continental shelf only recently. We have proven (to) Unclos that it is attached. So now the UN is considering it for decision sometime in 2012,” Paje said.

He said gas deposits in the area would enable the country to achieve energy sufficiency.

“Benham Rise is very relevant because of its gas deposits (which has been) confirmed particularly by (the) National Mapping Resource Information Agency. It has given us the data that (the area) contains solid methane. We have not explored it but we have found nodules of methane in the surface and this is very important to us,” he said.

Kalayaan, Scarborough

The Kalayaan Island Group, which is part of the disputed Spratly Islands and Scarborough Shoal, both located in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) and claimed by the Philippines, are also believed to contain oil and natural gas.

Paje said there was the possibility that the country could export gas in the future.

The secretary added that there would be a demand for gas deposits in Benham Rise “because it’s much cleaner than (other) fossil fuels.”

The DENR formally submitted its proposed P16.99-billion budget for 2012 to the Senate finance committee.

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Dutch firm to pursue solar projects in Philippines

By: Amy R. Remo
Philippine Daily Inquirer

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The Netherlands-based Sunconnex Projects BV remains keen on building a 70-megawatt solar power project portfolio in the country despite the problems hounding the renewable energy sector.

The firm, through local unit Sunconnex Development Corp. (PH), is still willing to invest $3 million to $4 million to produce a megawatt of solar power in the country, or a total of about $210 million to $280 million for all its planned power projects.

However, Sunconnex is urging the government to maintain the stability of the country’s business climate by implementing the policies that had been passed under the Renewable Energy Act of 2008 and not to change the rules midway through the game.

“Sunconnex remains hopeful that the Philippine government will maintain stability in its policies to develop renewable energy including solar. Sunconnex hopes that the government will not change the rules and policies and proceed with the programs outlined in the RE Act,” said the local unit’s president JJ Samuel A. Soriano.

“Sunconnex was one of the foreign solar developers that responded to the Philippine government’s desire to develop solar energy as specified in the Renewable Energy Act and has been preparing and developing solar projects for the Philippines soon after the May 2010 elections,” Soriano added.

The Philippine renewable energy industry has yet to move forward as local and foreign developers currently await the issuance of the final feed-in-tariff rates, which would supposedly assure them of future cash flows since electricity end-users will be charged fixed amounts to cover production of energy from renewable sources.

FIT rates will likewise determine whether a renewable energy project would be economically feasible.

This early, however, several groups, along with the Board of Investments, have already issued their respective positions against the feed-in-tariff rates, generally noting that these will only further hike the country’s electricity prices, reportedly the highest in Asia.

Solar power developers, in particular, have been hit the hardest since under the FIT scheme, they have been given by the National Renewable Energy Board the highest rate at P17.95 per kilowatt-hour. This prompted groups and government officials, including Energy Secretary Jose Rene D. Almendras, to suggest the pacing of the more expensive RE sources like solar so as not to further burden Filipino consumers