Business World Online
Posted on March 18, 2013 10:00:28 PM
DAVAO CITY -- Aboitiz Power Corp.’s Therma Marine, Inc. has been operating its two power barges at maximum output since early this month because of power shortage in Mindanao.
The two power barges have a combined capacity of 200 megawatts (MW). They are located in Nasipit, Agusan del Norte and Maco, Compostela Valley and provide complementary power to 23 electric cooperatives in the region.
Aboitiz Power said that the summer months are expected to affect the water levels in Lake Lanao -- which will then affect the output of the Agus-Pulangui hydroelectric power complex. The said hydro facility, which is owned and operated by Napocor, supplies more than 50% of the region’s electricity needs.
According to the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines’s Web site, as of Monday, Mindanao had a peak demand of 1,143 megawatts but could only produce 810 megawatts -- a deficiency of 333 MW, roughly a fourth of the normal demand.
The National Power Corp. supplies the majority of the power requirements of all electric cooperatives in Mindanao, but in the event that its supply is not enough to meet the demand, "cooperatives run more and more to Therma Marine to lessen the power curtailments and shorten the brownouts in some areas."
"The traditional role of peaking plants like Therma Marine’s [power barges] is to provide back-up and ancillary power to the grid. But with no other capacity left to help the electric cooperatives, we are now running almost like base load power plants," the statement quoted Therma Marine Chief Operating Officer Jovy P. Batiquin as saying.
"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," Mr. Batiquin said.
He said the company has been on its toes since 2010 when a major power shortage hit the island, and is expecting to work doubly hard until major power plants go onstream two years from now.
Among those expected to start operation by 2015 is another Aboitiz Power Corp. subsidiary, Therma South Inc., which is building a 300-MW coal-fired power plant here. Another power generation facility expected to open by that time is Conal Holdings Corp.’s 200-MW coal-fired plant in Sarangani.
Romeo M. Montenegro, Mindanao Development Authority director for investment promotion and public affairs, said Mindanao’s power is expected to become stable only by 2018 when most of the power plants planned for construction are finally completed. -- Carmelito Q. Francisco and Claire-Ann Marie C. Feliciano source
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