Monday, March 13, 2017

No more brownouts for Mindanao this summer?



 (The Philippine Star) |

There’s good news for the people of Mindanao when Malacañang reported that Pres. Rodrigo Duterte has approved the proposal to create rail and power bodies in Mindanao. Call it a dream come true for the people of Mindanao and it could only happen because one of their own is now President. For many decades, Mindanao has been dubbed “The Land of Promise.” Well, finally the promise of a Mindanao railway is fast becoming a reality, where we can see its fruition in our lifetime.
Now as far as the creation of power bodies for Mindanao is concerned. Actually, Mindanao today has ample power reserves. Just a couple of weeks ago, AboitizPower reportedly added 800 MW power plants ranging from renewable energy sources to coal-fired “clean energy” plants as reported by my good friend, chief operating officer Antonio Moraza. This mix includes the 69 MW Manolo Fortich Hydropower plant in Bukidnon and the 8.5 MW Maris Canal hydropower project in Isabela. Of AboitizPower’s capacity of 3,350 MW from all over the country, 30% of this comes from renewable energy sources.
Attracted by the power mix of AboitizPower, six electric cooperatives from Mindanao, namely, the Bukidnon Second Electric Cooperative, Zamboanga del Sur Electric Cooperatives 1 and 2, Zamboanga del Norte Electric Cooperative, Misamis Occidental 1 Electric Cooperative and the Siargao Electric Cooperative last month signed a renewable energy supply contract with Hedcor an AboitizPower subsidiary that is currently building a 68.8 MW Manolo Fortich hydro power plant in Bukidnon. I have seen the Hedcor hydro power plant outside of Davao City and it is impressive. With AboitizPower serving Mindanao, we can foresee no more blackouts that plagued Mindanao in the previous years… hopefully!

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