INTRODUCTION

The 2nd ASEAN POWER GRID Consultative Committee (refer to hereafter as “The Committee’) was convened in Cebu, Philippines on 17th June 2007. Participants in attendance were delegates from Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The meeting welcome the attendance of the Government members from Brunei, Philippines and Singapore. Observers from the ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE) and members from WG2 EGAT, Thailand who were also attending the meeting were welcomed. The meeting was chaired by elected Chairman, The Honourable Datuk Wira Md. Sidek Ahmad from TNB, Malaysia.

Opening the Remarks of Chairman

The Chairman of the APGCC welcomed members to the 2nd meeting of the APGCC. Chairman acknowledged the presence of representatives both from the Government and the utilities for the meeting. List of delegates are as per Appendix 1.

Chairman proposed the agenda as per Appendix 2.

The Chairman touched on the chronology of the APG which started 20 years back in 1986. Philippines again became the focal point when the ASEAN Energy Cooperation was signed in Manila. Progress on implementation of APG has been very slow however, since the last 23rd HAPUA Council Meeting in year 2007, the progress on APG has been tremendous with the signing of MOU on APG on 23rd August 2007 in Singapore during the AMEM/SOME meeting.

The MOU of APG stated as outlined in its Article V -

“Institutional arrangement of The Memorandum of Understanding on ASEAN Power Grid (APG) , “The HAPUA Council…..shall initiate the formation of an ASEAN Power Grid Consultative Committee (APGCC), to be composed to representatives from Member Countries and the HAPUA Member Utilities.” Further, [t]his APGCC shall facilitate and assist the HAPUA Council in the implementation of [the] Memorandum of Understanding”.

And it is under the instruction that the Consultative Committee is formed known as APGCC, hence the APG Consultative Committee has a task ahead to complete and report to the next HAPUA Council Meeting the followings:

Conduct of the 2nd APGCC Meeting

The Meeting was conducted in a plenary session chaired by The Honorable Datuk Wira Md. Sidek Bin Ahmad, Senior Vice President (Operation & Technical) of TNB, Malaysia.

The adopted meeting agenda is as shown in Appendix 2

The Minutes of Meeting of the 1st APGCC

The Secretariat of APGCC presented the proceedings of the 1^st APGCC meeting that was held on 22^nd February 2008 in Jakarta. The minutes of meeting is enclosed as Appendix 3.

4.1 Arising Matters

The Committee discussed on the matters arising from the minutes of the 1^st APGCC meeting.

4.1.1    The Meeting unanimously agreed that the first stage of APG should be based on bilateral arrangements. The next stage of APG would be the multilateral relations, which is in preparation for the liberal market operations in some member countries.

4.1.2    The Meeting took note on Brunei points that is to assign Working Group No. 5 to not only conduct the benchmarking study but also come out with recommendation on the contractual issue as well as to broaden the scope of study to include the Subsystem B and C. The Committee agreed but reminded that the emphasis of the study should be carried out on bilateral basis first between Members countries of Subsystem A. Relevant studies related to Commercial Issues, Tax, Regulation, Tariff System and Social Impact are to be included in the study.

      The Committee also raised the need for the contractual issue to provide various contract models base on the experience and examples of past contracts between two countries and recommend for further improvement if it need be. This study could then be replicated to other bilateral subsystem connections.

The Committee took note of the issues on confidentiality and request for member countries to guide WG undertaking this study, on which of the confidentiality aspect of the contract that should be omitted from the study.

The Committee also took note that the major blocker is the commercial/regulation tax and tariff aspect of the interconnection which may impasse the study and this requires member countries to assist the respective WG.

4.1.3   As per decision made in the 8^th Working Committee Meeting, the committee members were informed that HAPUA Working Group No 6 will undertake studies on financial modeling of APG Projects.

The Committee suggested that WG6 will also carry out financial risk and social risk study associated with this project as well as the source of finance.

4.1.4   The Meeting deliberated on the issues faced by WG2 in relation to the AIMS study which needed the full support of member countries in submitting relevant information and data required for the completion of the study. The project timeline is delayed due to some country members did not submit data and information requested. As of now, Subsystem A study is completed only on the availability of current data provided.

WG2 requested the date line of Dec 2008 to be extended to June 2009 in order to complete the AIMS review. The Committee agreed to the next timeline but needed the interim report to be tabled at the next APGCC and HAPUA WC in Singapore in December 2008.

The Committee took note of the obstacle that WG2 is facing and requested the Country Coordinator to play bigger role in assisting WG2 and suggested that any request for data to be channeled through the Country Coordinator or Country Project Coordinator. This may help resolved this issue.

The Committee advised that data and information may be subjected to confidentiality policy and governing rules of certain countries which may not be disclosed, thus, in handling this issue of confidentiality, it must be escalated to the higher level committee such as the APGCC, the HAPUA Working Committee and subsequently the HAPUA Council or even the ASEAN Secretariat.

For the record, those data that are not made available due to the confidentiality issue must be recorded for further reference.

The Committee advised that the engagement of WG 5 & 6 will be carried out upon completion of the AIMS.

5.   The Meeting noted WG 2 role in preparing the common Grid Code of ASEAN Power Grid, the Code of Planning and Operation Rules.

There are two separate issues with respect to the APG matters i.e.( i.) Grid Code and (ii) Planning Criteria which is the subset of the Grid Code.

The Committee is in agreement with Thailand that the Planning Criteria could be carried out by WG2 internally. However, the Committee suggested that WG2 may engage expert in this field to carry out the study on the ASEAN Grid Code.

In this respect, WG2 is requested to prepare the proposal to include the Scope of Work and Cost and submit for HAPUA Council endorsement.

The Committee also suggested that WG2 look into the existing operating model of the EU or North American as well as the GMS model which is currently being studied. These models could than be compared with Subsystem A and subsequently cascade it next to Subsystem B & C.

6.   The Committee will bring up to the Council and seek endorsement for All WG activities and Project Coordinators to realign their projects towards supporting the realization of the APG.

All other projects shall utilize the sub-sector study under the ACE structure thus avoiding duplication between ACE and HAPUA.

TOR of APGCC

The Committee deliberated on the revised TOR of the APGCC.

The Committee agreed on the followings:

• Finalized TOR needs to be presented & endorsed for the adoption of the 24^th HAPUA Council Meeting.


• Key issues were deliberated and changes were made to item 2.4 and 5.0 of the TOR.


• Item 2.4 with respect to the involvement of ACE in the APGCC.

Member raised concern on the involvement referring to Article 19 of the HAPUA MOU. The Committee requested HAPUA Secretariat to consult with the ASEAN Secretariat for the clarification of “Third party involvement”. The Committee in principle has no objection of the involvement of ACE as co-opted member however defer the decision to seek further endorsement of HAPUA Council Members.

• Item 5.0 – To include WG2 role (which was omitted earlier) in carrying out study on the technical aspect of APG.


• The Committee unanimously accepted the finalized TOR in principle subject to minor mistakes being corrected.

• The Committee agreed to the proposed revision on the timeline by WG2 in relation to AIMS study.


• The Committee requested that the interim report on AIMS study to be tabled at the next APGCC and HAPUA Working Committee Meeting in December 2008.


• The revised timeline for 2008-2015 will be table at the coming HAPUA Council Meeting for endorsement.

Other Matters/Issues

7.1 Frequency of meeting

• The Committee agreed on the frequency of the meeting to be conducted twice per year back to back with the HAPUA Working Committee Meeting.


• The Committee may call for any urgent/emergency meeting on need basis need for decision making subjected to the consent of the Chairman and Vice Chairman.

7.2 Involvement of Government Officials

• Issue on the involvement and participation of Government Officials in the Committee need to be highlighted to HAPUA Council for further advice.


• Secretariat requested to include in its report to the next SOME of this concern on the involvement of Government Officials in APG and APGCC.

Date and Venue of the 3rd APGCC Meeting

Meeting agreed that the next APGCC meeting will be conducted back to back with the HAPUA Working Committee Meeting tentatively scheduled in December 2008 in Singapore.

Propose agenda of the next meeting to include matters related to:

1. Presentation of WG 2 on interim report of revised AIMS study; and

2. Presentation of WG 5 & 6 on the progress of their study related to the APG  

Acknowledgement

1. The Chairman acknowledged the valuable contribution and cooperation of the delegations that have made the Meeting a success. He also expressed his appreciation to the Organizing Committee and staffs for their hard work and efforts.


2. The Meeting was held in the traditional spirit of ASEAN solidarity and cordiality.

Appendix1

List Of Delegates

Appendix 2

AGENDA

AGENDA ITEM 1:                OPENING REMARKS OF THE CHAIRPERSON

AGENDA ITEM 2:                ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA

AGENDA ITEM 3:               CONDUCT OF MEETING

AGENDA ITEM 4:               THE FOLLOW UP OF 1st MEETING OF APGCC

AGENDA ITEM 5:               THE TOR of APGCC

AGENDA ITEM 6:               THE TIME LINE OF APG ACTIONS PLAN

AGENDA ITEM 7:               Date and Venue of the Next Meeting