ILOILO CITY, Philippines—The use of coal, condemned by environmentalists as the world’s dirtiest fuel, proceeded here Thursday despite opposition, putting a new power plant in operation to fill the need for electricity of a region that has grown impatient over crippling power outages.
At least 41 megawatts were fed into the Cebu-Negros-Panay (CNP) power grid yesterday from one unit of the 164-MW coal power plant owned by Global Business Power Corp. (GBPC), according to the Panay Energy Development Corp. (PEDC), a GBPC subsidiary.
Lemuel Fernandez, GBPC-PEDC media consultant, said yesterday that the plant’s Unit I was operating 50 percent of its capacity supplying 41 MW to the grid. Among its customers is the Panay Electric Company (Peco), Iloilo City’s lone power distributor.
Shift to coal
The power plant interconnected with the Peco grid on Tuesday operating first on diesel before shifting to coal.
Fernandez said supply to Peco and the CNP grid would be intermittent until the plant goes into full operation in the next few weeks. The plant’s other 82-MW generator is expected to go online by end of this year or early next year, he said.
Panay Island, at the tail end of the Visayas grid, suffered most from a power shortage that is crippling many businesses and drawing the ire of residents.
Existing power plants on the island have a total dependable capacity of 155.3 MW, way below the island’s peak demand of 189.74 MW.
Geothermal
The Visayas power grid is mainly dependent on power generated by geothermal plants in Leyte.
Energy and government officials have pushed for power generators to be established in Western Visayas, especially in Panay, to protect consumers on the island especially when plants in Leyte and Cebu malfunction.
The Iloilo coal plant has come under fire for environmental and health concerns after repeated complaints of foul emissions during its test runs that started in September.
Suspend coal
On Thursday, the Kalikasan People’s Network for theEnvironment (PNE), called on President Aquino to suspend the construction of more coal-fired power plants until complaints of communities near the plants have been comprehensively investigated and addressed.
“The hazards of coal-fired power plants is well discussed in numerous international studies, but here in the Philippines, there seem to be a deliberate attempt by the government to ignore these,” said Meggie Nolasco, Kalikasan PNE spokesperson.
Nolasco said the Philippines has one of the world’s highest potentials in renewable energy resourceswhich should be tapped instead of “relying on imported and dirty sources of energy such as coal.”
At least 41 megawatts were fed into the Cebu-Negros-Panay (CNP) power grid yesterday from one unit of the 164-MW coal power plant owned by Global Business Power Corp. (GBPC), according to the Panay Energy Development Corp. (PEDC), a GBPC subsidiary.
Lemuel Fernandez, GBPC-PEDC media consultant, said yesterday that the plant’s Unit I was operating 50 percent of its capacity supplying 41 MW to the grid. Among its customers is the Panay Electric Company (Peco), Iloilo City’s lone power distributor.
Shift to coal
The power plant interconnected with the Peco grid on Tuesday operating first on diesel before shifting to coal.
Fernandez said supply to Peco and the CNP grid would be intermittent until the plant goes into full operation in the next few weeks. The plant’s other 82-MW generator is expected to go online by end of this year or early next year, he said.
Panay Island, at the tail end of the Visayas grid, suffered most from a power shortage that is crippling many businesses and drawing the ire of residents.
Existing power plants on the island have a total dependable capacity of 155.3 MW, way below the island’s peak demand of 189.74 MW.
Geothermal
The Visayas power grid is mainly dependent on power generated by geothermal plants in Leyte.
Energy and government officials have pushed for power generators to be established in Western Visayas, especially in Panay, to protect consumers on the island especially when plants in Leyte and Cebu malfunction.
The Iloilo coal plant has come under fire for environmental and health concerns after repeated complaints of foul emissions during its test runs that started in September.
Suspend coal
On Thursday, the Kalikasan People’s Network for theEnvironment (PNE), called on President Aquino to suspend the construction of more coal-fired power plants until complaints of communities near the plants have been comprehensively investigated and addressed.
“The hazards of coal-fired power plants is well discussed in numerous international studies, but here in the Philippines, there seem to be a deliberate attempt by the government to ignore these,” said Meggie Nolasco, Kalikasan PNE spokesperson.
Nolasco said the Philippines has one of the world’s highest potentials in renewable energy resourceswhich should be tapped instead of “relying on imported and dirty sources of energy such as coal.”
No comments:
Post a Comment