THE Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has capped the 2018 maximum power generating capacity of a single entity and its related groups to 5,466,779.34 kilowatts (kW) or no more than 25% of the installed capacity in the national power grid.

It said the single-entity capacity limit is stipulated in the law that deregulated the energy sector.

For Luzon, the market share limitation (MSL) was set at 4,552,790.23 kW or no more than 30% of the main island’s set installed generating capacity (IGC) as called for under the ERC resolution released this week to media.

In the Visayas and Mindanao, the market share limit was 958,466.4 kW and 1,048,878.57 kW, respectively. These limits represent 30% of the separate installed generating capacity in the island groups.

ERC Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer Agnes T. Devanadera said setting the installed generating capacity and the market share limitation, per grid and national grid, “ensures consumer protection through the promotion of free and fair competition in the generation and supply of electricity.”

“The ERC, as part of its monitoring activities, shall continuously monitor to ensure that no generation company or other entity violates or breaches the MSL per Grid and National Grid,” she said in a statement on Tuesday.

ERC Resolution No. 04, Series of 2018, “A Resolution Setting the Installed Generating Capacity and Market Share Limitation Per Grid and National Grid for 2018” was signed on Feb. 27, 2018.

The limits were based on national installed generating capacity estimates by the ERC for 2018, which placed the country’s total at 21,867,117.35 kW or around 21,867 megawatts (MW), with that of Luzon set at 15,175,967.44 kW or 69.4% of the country’s total.

For the Visayas and Mindanao, the installed generation capacity was set at 3,194,888 kW (14.6% of the total) and 3,496,261.91 (16%), respectively.

The ERC is mandated under Sec. 45 (a) of Republic Act No. 9136 or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 (EPIRA) to set the numbers annually to prevent a person, company, related group or independent power producer administrator, singly or in combination, to own, operate, or control more than 30% of the IGC per grid, and 25% of the national grid.

In line with the EPIRA provision, the ERC issued Resolution No. 26, Series of 2005, which set the guidelines for the determination of installed generation capacity for each grid and the national grid — the high-voltage backbone system of interconnected transmission lines, substations and related facilities.

The IGC is the sum of the maximum capacity of the generation facilities that are connected to the transmission system or distribution system that forms part of a particular grid.

Separately, the ERC approved and adopted the 2017 edition of the Philippine Distribution Code (PDC), which it said was a result of several years of technical review, analysis and coordination work among the members and technical staff of the Distribution Management Committee, Inc.

“We saw the need to update the existing PDC to include new standards, policies, requirements and rules issued by the ERC, Department of Energy, and other authorities to address issues on the developments brought about by the promotion of renewable energy, and open access and retail competition,” Ms. Devanadera said.

The new PDC edition takes into account the Philippines’ adoption of new and emerging technologies including variable renewable energy, as well as best practices and experiences of foreign jurisdictions in the use of these technologies.

The code has been harmonized with relevant provisions of the Philippine Grid Code 2016 Edition, the market rules of the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM), and subsequent rules and guidelines issued by the ERC applicable to distribution systems. — Victor V. Saulon

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