By Malu Cadelina-Manar |
KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews/30 May) – The Energy Development Corporation (EDC), owner of two geothermal power plants at Mount Apo, has maintained its position that it has no technical capability to effect the prioritization of dispatch of their produced electricity to Cotabato Electric Cooperative (Cotelco).
The Cotelco provides electricity to Kidapawan City and 17 towns in North Cotabato.
In a statement, the EDC cited as basis for its claim Section 6.a. (2) of the Department of Energy (DoE) Regulations Number 1-94, which categorically states that is the National Power Corporation that shall effect the prioritization of the load dispatch benefit if the generating facility has no contract or agreement with the distribution utility in the host LGU’s area.
“In this case, the EDC has no contract with Cotelco. Its contract is with NPC to which it delivers its entire output. Thus, the EDC has no technical capability to effect the prioritization of the load dispatch to the [Cotelco],” said Ivy Henson, EDC press relations officer.
The geothermal power plants could produce up to 104 megawatts of electricity, data showed. Twenty-five percent of its output is equivalent to 26MW.
Henson said they released the statement as a reaction to claims made by Makabayan, an alliance of progressive groups in North Cotabato, that the company should prioritize Cotelco in its load dispatch.
Makabayan and other multi-sectoral groups held a protest rally in Kidapawan City on May 24 where they demanded, among other things, the load prioritization.
Ruby Padilla-Sison, one of the convenors of the Makabayan, said it is very ironical that the province hosts two geothermal power plants at Mount Apo yet in times of energy shortage, “we’re given only few megawatts of power.”
Sison cited, as an example, the situation in April this year where Cotelco was given only 15.4MW of load from the Mindanao grid, which was, “way, way below the 26MW that should be dispatched to [Cotelco].”
From April 17 until first week of May, the province experienced eight hours of rotating blackouts, she noted.
Meantime, the Makabayan, in a statement issued today, said it is opposed to the proposed construction of another geothermal well at Mount Apo, saying the facility will only benefit multinational corporations and “not the majority poor Filipinos.”
The EDC plans to construct a 50MW geothermal plant in addition to its two plants located at Barangay Ilomavis here.
The commissioning of the project is expected in 2015, reports said.
“We are not assured of preferential and direct supply of electric power for Kidapawan City and the province as a whole. Terms of this provision under the memorandum of agreement (MOA) are gray and vague. We have been deceived of this provision in the first two wells endorsed by both Kidapawan and Cotabato LGUs in the early ’90s. We can’t allow being deceived again this time,” the statement said.
Also, the group said that the proposed memorandum of agreement for the third geothermal plant promised financing assistance of the government’s rural electrification program in North Cotabato yet “data showed that hosting power generating projects is not tantamount to high efficiency rate of rural electrification program.”
The Makabayan furnished copies of its unified position to the city council, which on Thursday passed a resolution granting Mayor Rodolfo Gantuangco the authority to enter into a MOA with the EDC after it endorsed the construction of additional geothermal plant. (Malu Cadeliña Manar / MindaNews) source
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