Manila, Tokyo agree to improve power infra
THE Philippines and Japan intend to team up to improve the infrastructure and generation efficiency of Manila’s power sector, the Department of Energy (DoE) said on Friday.
In a letter of intent for a technical cooperation agreement signed by Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi and Japanese Economy Ministry Deputy Director General Kazuhisa Kobayashi in Tokyo on Wednesday, both parties agreed to identify issues and remedial measures based on Japan’s experience and knowledge, and propose institutional arrangements, to push for the installation of reliable facilities.
They also agreed for the Philippine government and independent power producers (IPPs) to be trained on enhancing the operations and maintenance of existing thermal power plants and exchanging results of rehabilitation diagnoses done in accordance with a master plan.
This plan is based on a study the Economy ministry conducted on the Philippines’ supply-demand outlook, electrification rate, current electricity tariff, and disaster resiliency.
It compliments the DoE’s performance assessment and audit of power generation, transmission, and distribution systems and facilities.
In a statement from Tokyo, the Energy department said the agreement was a product of several coordination meetings between the two countries that aimed to resolve power-sector issues.
“The technical assistance is needed for Filipinos to get more value for their money, in terms of investment, energy development, and utilization,” Cusi said.
“In the end, it should address the overall drive toward energy efficiency,” he added.
Cusi and other top Energy officials are in the Japanese capital this week for the fifth regular meeting of the Philippines-Japan High-Level Committee on Infrastructure and Economic Cooperation.
Earlier in the week, the department was courting Japanese natural gas companies to invest in its planned integrated liquefied natural gas (LNG) hub terminal project.
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