Cusi halts permit policy on critical energy projects
By Alena Mae S. Flores – December 11, 2020 at 08:00 pm
from manilastandard.net
Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi suspended the issuance of certificate on energy projects of national significance to evaluate its effectiveness.
The Department of Energy said in an advisory dated Dec. 10 it suspended the issuance of the CEPNS “to give way to a thorough review of its effectiveness with respect to securing regulatory permits and license endorsements and other requirements relevant to the timely development and completion of energy projects.”
The Energy Investment Coordinating Council, through the DOE, is responsible for the issuance of CEPNS, which is supposed to speed up the issuance of permits and clearances required from relevant government agencies and instrumentalities for energy projects.
Established by virtue of Executive Order No. 30, the EICC was created to streamline the regulatory procedures of energy projects as part of the Ease of Doing Business Program of the Duterte administration.
Cusi said in parallel with the CEPNS process evaluation, all applications for CEPNS would be automatically migrated to the Energy Virtual One-Stop Shop.
“A separate advisory shall be issued once the said suspension is lifted based on the results of the evaluation,” Cusi said.
The DOE already issued CEPNS to 149 projects with estimated total investments of P794.52 billion.
“Out of 399 received applications, 149 were certified as CEPNS while 35 applications are still under evaluation. Total estimated investment for the 145 issued CEPNS is P794.52 billion,” data from the department showed.
Among the latest companies to be issued CEPNS are Texas-based Excelerate Energy LP for the commerciality of its liquefied natural gas project in Luzon which is expected to be completed by the second quarter of 2022, Batangas Clean Energy Inc. for the commerciality of its integrated LNG project and Bacman Geothermal Inc. for the pre-development phase of its 29.5-MW Bacon-Manito expansion project.
The CEPNS process involves a two-phase issuance for projects under pre-development stage and projects proceeding to commerciality. Projects under pre-development stage include oil, gas, coal, geothermal, solar, hydro, ocean and wind except biomass with operating contract instead of service contract while projects proceeding to commerciality include power plants, LNG and natural gas infrastructure.
Projects can be awarded a CEPNS under EO 30 if it complies with several criteria, including significant capital investment of P3.5 billion; significant contribution to the country’s economic development; significant potential contribution to the country’s balance of payment; significant impact on the environment’ significant complex technical processes and/or engineering designs; and significant infrastructure requirement.
Projects given CEPNS are those for power generation, transmission, and/or ancillary services including those required to maintain grid stability and security, and which are in consonance with the policy thrusts and specific goals of the DOE’s Philippine Energy Plan.
Other big-ticket projects which received CEPNS include the liquefied natural gas terminal project of FGEN LNG Corp. in Batangas, the P52-billion Mindanao-Visayas Interconnection Project and the 1,336-MW super-critical coal-fired power plant of GNPower Dinginin Ltd. Co. in Mariveles, Bataan.
