Govt readies sale and transfer of power barges to Mindanao

Manila Times.net
Published : Saturday, November 05, 2011 00:00 
Written by : Euan Paulo C. Añonuevo Reporter


STATE-RUN Power Sector Assets and Management Liabilities Corp. (PSALM) will commence with the privatization of government’s remaining power barges (PB) before the year ends.
Emmanuel Ledesma, PSALM president and chief executive officer, said that the asset management’s board recently approved the sale of PBs 101, 102, 103 and 104, which are located in the Visayas.


The sale of the facilities, however, comes with the condition that they are to be transferred to Mindanao to augment the power supply in the region. All transfer costs will be for the account of the winning bidder.


“The transfer will occur after the power situation stabilizes in the Visayas where the PBs are currently moored,” the PSALM official said.
Mindanao is currently suffering from thin power reserves because of insufficient power generating capacity.


This has resulted to power outages in the region during times of extreme heat and high demand, and whenever a power plant is shutdown for maintenance works.


Ledesma said that PSALM, in coordination with the Department of Energy, has yet to finalize the timeline and the details for the relocation of the PBs that would be used to help shore up Mindanao’s power supply.


The PBs are movable and can be relocated anywhere with adequate mooring structures. Designed as base-load plants, PBs 101, 102, 103 and 104 are 32-megawatt barge-mounted bunker-fired diesel generating power stations that consist of four identical Hitachi-Sulzer diesel generator units rated at eight megawatts each.


The National Power Corp. bought the power barges from a Japanese firm, Hitachi Zosen Corp. These barges were used to help ease a severe power shortage in the Philippines, providing the required support in the Visayas and Mindanao regions.


Commissioned in 1981, PB 101 and PB 102 are currently moored at Bo. Obrero, Iloilo City, while PB 103 and 104, which were commissioned in 1985, are moored at Botongon, Estancia, Iloilo, and at the Holcim Compound, Ilang, Davao City, respectively.


Since they began operation, these barges had been moved to various locations to meet technical requirements—usually a power shortage—or to provide reactive power support to improve voltage regulation at the end of very long transmission circuits.