Executive Secretary Lucas P. Bersamin has directed relevant national government agencies (NGAs) and local government units (LGUs) to work collaboratively with the Department of Energy and Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) on a judicious streamlining of the ‘permitting processes’ for energy projects being developed in various parts of the country.

The Executive Secretary, as a representative of the Office of the President in chairing the energy virtual one-stop shop (EVOSS), similarly pushed the integration of all required permits into the online platform which is being administered by the energy department.

Following a meeting that he convened for the EVOSS steering committee last March 26, Bersamin emphasized the need “to speed up further the processing and approval of permits for energy projects” – as the sector is a major part of the infrastructure development buildup that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. would want to prioritize.

It has to be noted that in recent travels of the President to various countries, the billion-dollars  of investment pledges he has been cornering are mostly for prospective energy projects.

Energy Secretary Raphael P. M. Lotilla qualified that “with heightened investor interest in energy projects, it is crucial to speed up the contactless processes and approvals for the benefit of the people and the host communities.”

Currently, there are at least four to five major ‘pain points’ that investors have been agonizing over – and if the government will not take urgent and serious steps on addressing them, these project permitting headaches will be the showstoppers on anticipated investment influx.

The major challenges keeping investors awake at night include LGU permitting – primarily on massive reports of ‘underground’ charges or unreceipted payoffs being required by some local leaders; the grueling process of land conversion for project sites; and the distressing routes of securing approvals and consents from the indigenous peoples through the system  being instituted by the National Commission for Indigenous Peoples (NCIP).

For the LGUs, in particular, Bersamin has instructed ARTA “to develop a model or an ordinance that will be adopted by the LGUs, including the integration of the national energy plans into the local development plans and establish a unified and streamlined permitting process to enable the LGUs to maximize the benefits from hosting energy projects.”

The energy department expounded that “the permitting process for energy projects is multi-layered. The array of permits, consultations, and assessments for any type of energy technology project can be a challenge,” adding that “projects can and do get delayed at any stage of the process.”

An aggravating factor to the predicament of energy investors, especially for power projects, is the lengthy procedure of securing system impact study (SIS) with the grid operator for the interconnection of their facilities – the shortest of which often takes two years.

Investors are complaining that despite the integration of some agencies in the EVOSS system, the timelines prescribed under Republic Act 11234 (the EVOSS law) are not strictly enforced.

On the part of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), lag in regulatory approvals of power supply agreements (PSAs) also emerges as “deal breaker’ similar to what happened to power projects being depended upon as capacity additions in the next two years.

At the DOE level, project developers have ‘comfort level’ of fast action, but they specified that the chokepoints are with the other government agencies.

On easing red tape for energy projects permitting, the Executive Secretary similarly decreed that the government agencies must “designate a focal person who would lead in instituting compliance with the EVOSS system, including the monitoring and timely submission of electronic documents.”

The DOE-Investment Promotions Office (DOE-IPO), which has been the designated EVOSS Secretariat, conveyed that it has been “working with various member agencies to identify roadblocks and changes in permitting processes, including setting and tracking timeline goals and encouraging online payment system.” This is under the supervision of Energy Undersecretary Felix William Fuentebella.

The other member-agencies and industry stakeholders mandated to be linked into the EVOSS portal are: the Departments of Agriculture, Agrarian Reform, Environment and Natural Resources, Information and Communications Technology, Interior and Local Government; then the ERC, NCIP and ARTA, National Water Resources Board (NWRB), Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP), National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) as well representatives from various segments of the power sector. ###