This post was offered a mini hydro power plant in the North; does not look feasible

Savings from oil and coal importation

A  business broker communicated with me and offered a power plant in island province where there is a frequent rotating brown out.  and said am interested.  However he said it could have been sold and offered another one at La Union.  However when I asked for cost to produce (LCOE) and current purchase price at WESM he demurred and said it has to be subject to NDA.  And probably the seller would know the numbers.

The deal would be P80M for the just the permits and total project cost would be a billion,  It is about 2Mw of power.    At P500M per megawatt.  A little bit high.  And so probably he just swing the deal to another one who could take the risk

And the P n L number would be:

             LCOE  -  8 us cents of about P4.40

             WESM price    P4.52.   Just 0.12 gp?  So thin margin.  

The series of protests by activists to stop the temporary hike will not end consumer woes

Savings from oil and coal importation

 

Philippines   |  December 19, 2013

There have been series of  protests by activists vs the P4.15/kwh  power hike of Meralco.  This is the highest single price so far.  The increase is reportedly due to higher price of fuel for the Ilijan power plant which previously used CNG from Malampaya.  The timing of the maintenance sucks  when everything was going up:   LPG, gasoline and diesel prices. 

The price of electricity isone of the highest in Asia.

This increase  underscores the need for renewable energy.  With the increase, the total cost of electricity could be as high as P17.15 and could hurt the consumers.   LCOE for solar for instance is only P5.00 ($0.12)  How about the power from black technology?   It is high and could get higher.  Time to invest as consumer for renewable energy and the power sector too.

Time to really be serious on implementing renewable energy.  But have we made significant progress on renewable energy.

Public capital funds could lower LCOE

Savings from oil and coal importation

Repost from Clean Technica by Guest Contributor | May 31, 2013

The use of public funds could lower the LCOE;  there will be lower cost of funds from borrowing and higher cost of private funds.

Some instruments could be ABS (Asset Based Securities) and MLP (Master Limited Partnership)

Green and renewable energy are not free;  they are cheaper alternative that pays for themselves.

Abroad, in California, can solar companies kill established utilities?

Repost from Energy Manager Today by Linda Hardesty | May 24, 2013

PG & E (Pacific Gas and Electricity ) at Northern California is being threatened by solar companies like SunRun (which leases solar PV) Solar City, Sungevity,  and Verengo.  The Central Utility business model is being threatened by rooftop solar panels

PG & E residential rates is now at 31 cents (about P12.00 at parity with PHL rates) and could reach 54 cents by 2022 (about P20.00) or double the current rates.  LCOE for solar is about  10 to 12 cents over for the next 25 years.  Thus more and more residential customers shift to solar.  40% of the total customers of utilities are residential. 

The utilities could fight net metering or make solar power sold through grid by subtracting these from the net metering.

Utilites are ill equipped or shackled by utility laws which were meant to protect them.  As more people shift to solar, they have no choice but to raise prices on remaining customers which forces more people to shift to solar energy

Is this happening in the PHL?

Sunlight electricity Potential Savings Calculator

From Sun electricity

You can compute using this link, your future savings using solar power if electric rates continue its usual increase.  Electricity power rates are usually 2 to 3 times more than inflation rate; and a l4 to l6 cents/kwh rate can shoot up to $l.00 per kwh at the end of 20 years (that is P40.00/kwh.)  Would you pay P40.00 per kwh.

That is why it pays to go solar;  its LCOE is only P4.00 to P6.00 max.

LCOE - the metric for solar PVs and renewables

Repost from Solar Professional by Tam Yates and Bradley Hibberd

Just what is LCOE?  It is the LEVELIZED COST OF ENERGY  and the standard metric for measuring internal and external comparison of solar energy with other energy sources.

It is defined by Thomas Holt and co. in a Manual for the Economic Evaluation of Renewable Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Technologies and compares the relative cost of energy irregardless of project size and and operating time frame.

Thus LCOE = Total life cycle cost/  total lifetime energy production.  Results are expressed as $/kwh or cents/kwh. 

The author warns though of using LCOE as the only measure to evaluate solar energy