Google this "Rowaldo Del Mundo".
Instantly, you read lines and lines of the upcoming power crisis in the Philippines. At least my title says "predicted". Just like the forecasted electric demand, the power crisis supposedly happening in 2013 is forecasted, too. It is uncertain. Though the numbers tell us the generation capacity is short by that time compared to the demand, not only investments in generation capacity will surely help.
WESM has been employing demand response control in Visayas which prove to be effective in peak shaving. Large customers who own their generation in their facility help out in alleviating the need to put up power plants, which take some time to build, when they voluntarily interrupt their grid connection and depend on their in-house energy sources. In this case, WESM may design a demand response program which can provide peak shaving for normal and emergency grid operations. This may delay the shortage generation from short to medium term. This will also lessen transmission congestion since local generation will supply local loads.
Second, it's time for WESM to design a installed generation capacity market. The spot market in energy brings competition in the short term which is good but it's short term and just pay for the variable cost of power plants. The variable cost covers fuel and operating expenses of putting out MW to the grid. In a capacity market, the market operator will provide signal for investors and reward payment for that fixed costs in building power plants.
Third, DOE must reward large customers who practice energy efficiency programs. Energy efficiency may not be significant in impacting the level of electricity demand, however, better than no action. Measure their consumption during peak hours and see if they are contributing to alleviate the generation shortage.
I hope to come back on this interesting topic by 2013 and see what happened and what did not happen. By that time, I will still use Google.
