Davao Light Gets Add’l 100MW
October 31, 2012 at 12:01am
The power utility’s need for additional supply is anchored on higher demand growth that it has penciled in for the coming years.
According to Davao Light executive vice president Arturo M. Milan, “the combination of rapid economic growth in (our) franchise area and the expected deteriorating supply from the National Power Corporation require us to act responsibly and secure this power now and ensure the power needs of Dabawenyos in the future.”
The delivery of the committed capacity is due June 2015, the targeted commercial commissioning of the coal facility which is also sited in Davao.
The signed power supply deal will still be submitted to the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) for the approval of the rates that will be passed on to consumers.
TSI chief operating officer Benjamin A. Cariaso Jr. has expressed confidence that they would be able to deliver on their supply commitment according to promised timeframe.
“We have the advantage of having already started our construction,” he stressed, noting that since Davao, being their host community has accepted their project, it is primordial in their commitment to ensure that it will also benefit fully from having secured supply.
Cariaso added that “Mindanao is facing a critical power shortage and it will only get worse as our demand for power is increasing. TSI will deliver much-needed power by 2015.”
The 300MW coal plant is among the additional capacity commitments of the Aboitiz group for Mindanao. Supplementing that will be 11.6MW of hydro capacity that will be brought on stream by another subsidiary Hedcor Inc. The longer term plan is an addition of 54MW to be harnessed from renewable energy sources.
The grid’s supply will be shored up further by the proposed 200-MW coal plant project of the Alsons group, which will also be on-line by 2015 to 2016.
Despite the recurring power outages plaguing Mindanao consumers, the short-term solutions are still being sorted out by government and the concerned stakeholders. The immediate options would be to repower the 100-MW Iligan diesel plant and set up the interim electricity spot market in the grid.
Source: mb.com.ph
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