Thursday, July 25, 2019

Power firm eyes more microgrids


By Jed Macapagal July 24, 2019

The country’s largest power distributor is keen on expanding its microgrid ventures outside its franchise area to help the government energize  other parts of the country.

The Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) reiterated its interest to expand these projects after inaugurating one in Cagbalete island, Quezon province yesterday.

Ahead of the official announcement of first half numbers, Manuel Pangilinan, Meralco chairman,  said the company expects better net income this year compared to last year driven by stronger sales volume .

Ray Espinosa, Meralco s president and chief executive officer, said the company intends to use  innovative, integrated hybrid solution  to provide stable power to the grid and  bring this outside its  franchise.

 Pangilinan  said the company is looking at several islands for the plan.

 Ayala Corp.  has earlier asked  Meralco to  provide  stable power supply solution to its Lio Tourism Estate and Sicogon Island resort in Palawan.

 Meralco’s power microgrid project at Cagbalete island  features a hybrid generating plant and will initially be composed of a 60 kilowatt peak (kWp) solar power system, 150 kilowatt hours (kWh) battery energy storage and two units of 30 kW diesel generators.

This  is enough to provide 24/7 electricity to about 200 households.

Meralco said  with the planned expansion, it will ultimately be capable of powering 600 more households as the facility can be expanded to have a capacity of as much as 1,000 kw to also serve other industries in the area.

Espinosa said the cost of electricity from the microgrid  will be cheaper than the P55 per kWh power cost from generator sets that was previously the only source of unstable electricity in the island.

Meralco launched its first microgrid project last February in Isla Verde, Batangas that featured a 32 kWp solar panel microgrid and 192 kWh battery storage facility that was developed together with the local government and the United States Agency for International Development.

Meanwhile, Pangilinan said Meralco’s net income for the year is pushed by the volume.

“Not double digit (growth for sales) but it’s good since it is better than the historic average,” he told reporters.

The company is set to announce its first half company figures on July 29.

Meralco booked a 7 percent growth in its core net income in the first half of the year to P10.9 billion compared to 2017’s P10.1 billion attributed to higher energy sales volume for the period.

Meralco’s energy sales for the first half of 2018 improved by 6.5 percent to 21,665 gigawatt hours (GWh) from the previous year’s 20,338 GWh.

The company also recorded a customer count of 6.47 million; a peak demand of 7,399 megawatts; and revenues at P150.5 billion.

Meralco is the largest electric distribution utility in the country.

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