LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – Multinational and local power companies, together with their respective financiers, are now struggling against each other to secure the social acceptability of renewable energy projects in various villages in the different parts of the province in order to have alternative sources of power to combat the expected power crisis in the next five years.

A number of power generating companies and local cooperatives are now undertaking the appropriate studies in potential sources of renewable energy in the province in order to identify the “sweet spots” so that they will be able to sustain the power requirements in their respective areas of operation once the power crisis happens in 2015.

Instead of 2012, energy experts disclosed the country will be encountering a power crisis in the next five years if the current power sources will remain and no new power plants will be established.

However, some industry experts warned the power crisis may come sooner as expected because of the expected industrial growth in the next several years which is triggered by the improvement in the global economy after the onslaught of the economic crisis.

Aside from the existence of the 360-megawatt Magat power plant, the 100-megawatt Ambuclao dam and the 75-megawatt Binga dam which is now being operated by the SN Aboitiz Power corporation, smaller companies are now studying the development of potential renewable energy sites in Kapangan, Kibungan, Bakun, Tuba and Buguias as well as Bokod and Kabayan.

For his part, Gerardo P. Verzosa, general manager of the Benguet Electric Cooperative (Beneco) here, said it has already identified a suitable site where the electric cooperative will put up its own mini-hydropower plant in order to come out with much cheaper rate for its consumers, especially in the place where they intend to put up the facility.

According to Verzosa, the Luzon grid’s capacity for additional power is very small, especially when one of the huge power plants back down which eventually results to rotating power outages in most parts of the island, thus, the need for both the government and private sector to tap new sources of energy to help bring down the high electricity rates being charged to the consumers.

Once the electric cooperative starts producing its own energy, particularly in the establishment of its own power plant, he predicted its thousands of consumers will be charged cheaper rates since the cooperative will be buying lesser power from the independent power producers and the National Power Corporation (NPC).