INDIVIDUALS AND businesses based in Mindanao may have to suffer daily power outages lasting one to two hours up to the end of the year, if two recently privatized power barges do not sell power to the grid soon.
The power barges, now owned by the Aboitizes’ Therma Marine (Inc.), have a combined capacity of 200 megawatts (MW), but cannot sell power yet due to the absence of supply contracts with distribution utilities (DUs) or electric cooperatives (ECs).
This has led to a projected deficit of 28 MW in October, 149 MW in November, and 113 MW in December, according to estimates made by the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines.
To prevent the current brownout situation from persisting, Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras said he would compel DUs and ECs in Mindanao to enter into bilateral contracts with generation companies such as TMI.
“The problem lies with supply. What we’re doing right now is trying to find a way to resolve the legal constraints, to allow DUs and ECs to enter into contracts with TMI. Once the contracts are in place, we will ask the (Energy Regulatory Commission) to speed up the approval process,” he said in a briefing Tuesday.
“We’ve already had initial discussions with the ERC on the legal constraints. Once resolved, we will invoke a ruling that allows the ERC to approve an applicationwithin a 30-day period. Now all we have to do is to ask the DUs and ECs to cooperate on this,” he said.
In a separate briefing, NGCP spokesperson Cynthia Perez-Alabanza reiterated that the problem was on the supply side and not due to transmission constraints.
“There is no congestion. Our lines in Mindanao can handle 180 MW per line, for a total capacity of 540 MW. Only 470 MW is being handled now,” she said. “If we inject the two barges back into the system, we’ll get an additional 200 MW, and the November and December deficits will be erased.”
Even with repairs being done on two of its Mindanao lines, the 230-kilovolt (kV) Maramag-Bunawan and 138-kV Agus 2-Kibawe, she said NGCP still had sufficient transmission capacity to carry the current power load.
Both lines will be re-energized within the month.
The power barges, now owned by the Aboitizes’ Therma Marine (Inc.), have a combined capacity of 200 megawatts (MW), but cannot sell power yet due to the absence of supply contracts with distribution utilities (DUs) or electric cooperatives (ECs).
This has led to a projected deficit of 28 MW in October, 149 MW in November, and 113 MW in December, according to estimates made by the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines.
To prevent the current brownout situation from persisting, Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras said he would compel DUs and ECs in Mindanao to enter into bilateral contracts with generation companies such as TMI.
“The problem lies with supply. What we’re doing right now is trying to find a way to resolve the legal constraints, to allow DUs and ECs to enter into contracts with TMI. Once the contracts are in place, we will ask the (Energy Regulatory Commission) to speed up the approval process,” he said in a briefing Tuesday.
“We’ve already had initial discussions with the ERC on the legal constraints. Once resolved, we will invoke a ruling that allows the ERC to approve an applicationwithin a 30-day period. Now all we have to do is to ask the DUs and ECs to cooperate on this,” he said.
In a separate briefing, NGCP spokesperson Cynthia Perez-Alabanza reiterated that the problem was on the supply side and not due to transmission constraints.
“There is no congestion. Our lines in Mindanao can handle 180 MW per line, for a total capacity of 540 MW. Only 470 MW is being handled now,” she said. “If we inject the two barges back into the system, we’ll get an additional 200 MW, and the November and December deficits will be erased.”
Even with repairs being done on two of its Mindanao lines, the 230-kilovolt (kV) Maramag-Bunawan and 138-kV Agus 2-Kibawe, she said NGCP still had sufficient transmission capacity to carry the current power load.
Both lines will be re-energized within the month.
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