February 26, 2018 | 12:14 am By Victor V. Saulon, Sub-Editor
A UNIT of the Alcantara-led Alsons
Consolidated Resources, Inc. has asked the Department of Energy (DoE) secretary
to intervene in its request to connect the second phase of its Sarangani power
plant to the grid operator’s substation, in a move that it claims to have an
impact on three million people in Mindanao.
In a letter to Energy Secretary
Alfonso G. Cusi dated Feb. 20, 2018, the chief executive officer of Sarangani
Energy Corp. (SEC) accused privately owned National Grid Corporation of the
Philippines (NGCP) of abusing its position as system operator for not acting on
the power developer’s request.
“NGCP’s inaction on SEC’s request is
an abuse of its position as the transmission grid operator and in violation of
its mandate as a franchised public utility,” SEC CEO Tirso G. Santillan Jr.
said in the letter.
“SEC has been requesting NGCP… that
it be allowed to install the necessary facilities in the NGCP Klinan Substation
to connect Phase II to the grid. Unfortunately, the request has been pending
with NGCP for 15 months already. This has severe consequences not just on SEC
but also on its customer distribution utilities who have considered the Phase
II supply in their supply projections,” he added.
NGCP did not immediately respond to
a request for comment on the issue.
SEC is currently constructing the
second 105-megawatt (MW) of its 210-MW circulating fluidized bed coal-fired
power plant in Maasim, Sarangani province. It targets to start commercial
operations by Jan. 15, 2019.
“In order to meet its timetable, SEC
has to ensure that every aspect of Phase II’s project is completed on time,
including the completion of the connection to the grid,” Mr. Santillan said.
The SEC official said the timely
installation of the necessary facilities at Klinan substation is needed in
order to meet the deadline. He noted the necessary assets should be operational
by May 15, 2018 to enable SEC to accomplish the commissioning stage of the
second phase, including various commercial operation tests.
Mr. Santillan said the request has
not been granted “despite our compliance with all applicable rules and
regulations and repeated requests for action on the part of NGCP.”
He warned SEC’s customers would
suffer “considerable power shortages” if supply from the second unit is
delayed.
SEC is contracted to supply a total
of 105 MW to Mindanao distribution utilities, namely: Cagayan Electric Power
and Light Co., Inc.; Cotabato Electric Cooperative, Inc.; Davao del Sur
Electric Cooperative, Inc.; Iligan Light and Power, Inc.; South Cotabato I
Electric Cooperative, Inc.; and Zamboanga del Sur I Electric Cooperative, Inc.
Mr. Santillan said NGCP’s
“discriminatory treatment” of SEC was in contrast to a past experience
involving the company’s first unit where it was able to install similar
facilities in the same substation.
“It is noteworthy that NGCP is treating
SEC differently from all other generation companies by taking upon itself the
installation of assets necessary for the grid connection. As far as SEC knows,
generation companies have been advancing the cost of these assets because NGCP
refused to provide them, on the ground of lack of capital expenditure
allocation. When SEC requested treatment identical as that given to other
generation companies, NGCP has refused to do so,” he said.
Should NGCP be allowed to continue
disregarding its mandate “to provide open and non-discriminatory access to the
grid, Mr. Santillan said it will set a dangerous precedent that will unsettle
the entire power industry.”
His letter was furnished to Agnes T.
Devanadera, chairperson of the Energy Regulatory Commission, and Melvin A.
Matibag, president and chief executive officer of National Transmission Corp.
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