Japan vows to help Philippines defend its remote islands amid China sea row

 

(InterAksyon) Japan pledged Thursday to help the Philippines defend its "remote islands", as both governments expressed concern over China's robust moves to stake its claims to disputed Asian waters.

 

Japanese Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera said China's contentious claim to nearly all of the South China Sea and its territorial dispute with Japan in the East China Sea were discussed during top-level talks in Manila.

 

"We agreed that we will further co-operate in terms of the defence of remote islands... the defence of territorial seas as well as protection of maritime interests," Onodera told a joint news conference.

 

"We face a very similar situation in the East China Sea of Japan. The Japan side is very concerned that this kind of situation in the South China Sea could affect the situation in the East China Sea," he said, speaking through an interpreter.

 

Philippine Defence Secretary Voltaire Gazmin welcomed Japan's offer of support for its poorly resourced military.

 

"We have agreed to continue our exchanges of information, exchanges of technology to help each other to make our defence relations stronger," Gazmin said.

 

Neither side offered specifics but Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said in February his country was expecting to get 10 new Japanese patrol boats within 18 months.

 

The Japanese military brutally occupied the Philippines during World War II, but the two countries have since grown closer due to trade and investment, and more recently, through China's assertiveness.

 

Del Rosario told the Financial Times newspaper in December that a rearmed Japan would help the region counter-balance China.

 

Onodera and Gazmin also on Thursday welcomed an increased military presence in Asia by their mutual ally, the United States.

 

However Onodera said Japan was intent on avoiding conflict with China.

 

"I would also like to emphasise here that the current situation should not be changed with the use of force but should be done through the rule of law," Onodera said.

 

China claims most of the South China Sea and the West Philippine Sea including waters close to its neighbors' coasts.

 

The Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan also have competing claims.

 

The Philippines has complained of increased Chinese "bullying" in the contested waters in recent years, and infuriated China by appealing to allies Japan and the United States for help.

 

The Philippines says China last year occupied an atoll well within the Filipino exclusive economic zone.

 

Tensions between China and Japan have also escalated over competing claims to the Japanese-held Senkaku islands, which Beijing calls the Diaoyus, in the East China Sea.

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Solar, Wind and Biomass Power Philippines? All PINOY could now Sell Electricity to Meralco, any Electric Company through RA 9513

In the new PRESS RELEASE for the ERC issues the Net-metering Rules, All end users who are just a mere electric consumers could now sell their excess electricity through bi-directional meters to the electric company following the price based on the Distribution Utility (DU) Standard approved by the ERC.

 

The Philippines joined the rapidly growing list of countries allowing consumers who generate their own electric power to sell excess supplies back to the electric grid for a reasonable price.

 

Last week, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), the principal government agency responsible for regulating the electric grid, approved a new interconnection standard that will enable net-metering of renewable energy for customers with distributed generation.

 

"The net-metering program will definitely change the electricity landscape," said Zenaida Cruz-Ducut, ERC chairwoman. "From just being recipients of electricity, electricity users may also now become generators, supplying not only their electricity requirements but also that of others through their distribution utilities' system."

 

In a net-metering arrangement, the consumer maintains a two-way connection to the distribution system and is

 

Consumers can generate up to 100 kilowatts of electricity from sources like solar, wind and biomass with equipment installed on their own premises. If they generate more than they can consume, they can sell the excess power supply back to their distribution utility company.

 

Under the new net metering rule, customers are only charged or credited, as the case may be, for the difference between the electricity they purchase from the grid and the electricity they sell back to the grid.

 

"It is a win-win solution, for the electricity end-user and for the environment," said Ducut.

 

PRESS RELEASE ERC issues the Net-metering Rules

07/03/2013

 

In a Resolution promulgated on July 1, 2013, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) adopted the Rules Enabling the Net-metering Program for Renewable Energy, including the Net-metering Interconnection Standards (Net-metering Rules).  The Net-metering Rules allow electricity end-users who are updated in the payment of their electric bills to their distribution utility (DU) to engage in distributed generation. They can generate electricity from renewable energy (RE) sources like solar, wind, biomass or such other RE Systems not exceeding 100 kW that can be installed within the end-users' premises and supply the electricity they generate in excess of what they can consume directly to their DU. 

 

In a net-metering arrangement, the end-user maintains a two-way connection to the distribution system and is only charged or credited, as the case may be, for the difference between the electricity supplied by the DU (import energy) and the electricity it supplies to the DU during times when it has excess RE generation (export energy), both of which are metered using 2 uni-directional meters, one for import and one for export, or a single bi-directional meter.  Under the Net-metering Rules, pending the development of a different pricing methodology, the net-metering customer's export energy shall be priced based on its DU's blended generation cost.  Included in the Net-metering Rules also are the standards, which shall be complied with and observed by the net-metering customer to address engineering, electric system reliability, and safety concerns for net-metering interconnections, such as those concerning voltage level, frequency, and power quality, and those relating to system protection. 

 

Section 10 of Republic Act No. 9513 or the Renewable Energy Act mandates the ERC, in consultation with the National Renewable Energy Board (NREB), to establish the net-metering interconnection standards and pricing methodology to usher in the implementation of the net-metering for renewable energy program.  NREB developed the draft net-metering rules, which after being subjected to public consultations and after a series of coordination meetings and workshops between the ERC and the NREB Technical Working Groups and the relevant stakeholders, was adopted and approved by the ERC.

 

"The net-metering program will definitely change the electricity landscape.  From just being recipients of electricity, electricity users may also now become generators, supplying not only their electricity requirements but also that of others through their distribution utilities' system.  They avoid drawing electricity from the distribution grid equivalent to their own RE generation that they consume, in the process realizing savings in their electricity bills, and get paid a reasonable price for their RE generation that they cannot any more consume. It is a win-win, for the electricity end-user and, more importantly, for the environment because of the additional RE capacity that is shored up by the program," ERC Chairperson and CEO Zenaida G. Cruz-Ducut explained.

 

Resolution No. 9, Series of 2013, Rules Enabling Net Metering Program for Renewable Energy

 

Download the Resolution No.9 in PDF here

 

With report from Forbes and ERC

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