Written by Madelaine B. Miraflor Published on 18 March 2013
Power barge operator and AboitizPower subsidiary Therma Marine announced on Monday that because of the thinning power supply in Mindanao, it was left with no choice but to keep some of its plants running 24 hours a day.
Therma Marine recently reported that its two plants are running 24 hours every day amid the thinning power supply and the rising demand for electric power in the island.
Therma Marine officials also said that they are expecting more challenging times for the rest of the year, with summer months seen to affect the water levels in Lake Lanao and the power output of the Agus-Pulangi complex.
“The traditional role of peaking plants like Therma Marine is to provide back-up and ancilliary power to the grid. But with no other capacity left to help the electric cooperatives, we are now running almost like a baseload power plant,” Therma Marine Chief Operating Officer Jovy Batiquin said.
Therma Marine currently produces 200 megawatts from its power barges in Nasipit, Agusan del Norte and Maco, Compostela Valley provinces.
According to the AboitizPower unit, the power barges supply power to 23 electric cooperatives and distribution utilities, to complement supply coming from National Power Corp. (Napocor). The state-owned Napocor supplies majority of the power supply to all the power cooperatives and utilities in Mindanao. However, with Napocor supply not enough to meet the demands of Mindanao, cooperatives rely more and more on Therma Marine to lessen the power curtailments and shorten the brownouts in some areas.
“Unfortunately, Therma Marine is already fully-contracted and we could no longer produce more and supply more power to electric cooperatives despite many requests for additional capacity,” Batiquin said.
He further said that the extended running hours take a lot of challenge for the facility’s manpower, as well as on maintenance and spare parts.
“We have been on our toes since 2010 and we expect to work doubly hard this year and next year until major power plants come in by 2015,” Batiquin added. source
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