12-MW solar facility to meet South Cotabato’s power supply

Manila Bulletin 
Published: June 9, 2013 
A utility-scale solar power development of 12 megawatts will help sustainably meet the electricity requirements of the customers of South Cotabato Electric Cooperative I (SOCOTECO) in Mindanao grid.
The electric cooperative noted that its plan to tap power developer Solarus Partners for the solar facility will serve as its “coping mechanism” to the lingering power supply crisis that has been plaguing many parts of the southern grid.
Eberswalde-headquartered German firm mp-tec will be the foreign partner of Solarus in the venture. The German partner will also be the technology provider in the facility to be sited in Surallah, South Cotabato.
As culled from project blueprint, the solar plant will utilize polycrystalline solar modules, and will similarly be equipped with state-of-the-art inverters and underpinned by German-made mounting systems.
Upon installation, the facility is expected to generate roughly 18.36 million kilowatt hours of electricity per year. The life cycle of the plant is set for 25 years.
The move of the electric cooperative to contract for its power supply, according to SOCOTECO I general manager Santiago Tudio, had been prompted by the reluctance of the National Power Corporation to provide at least 20 megawatts of its demand – mainly due to the dwindling capacity of the grid’s major source of supply, the Agus and Pulangui hydro plants.
“In the past, we have relied on NPC for the supply of our power requirements. But this August, our contract for 20MW with NPC ends,” he stressed.
Such circumstance, Tudio added, has impelled the electric cooperative management “to find our own solutions and aggressively secure power from independent producers in order to protect our residential and commercial customers from power interruptions.”
The service area of SOCOTECO I is generally supplied with power from diesel-fired generation; and its plan to contract for solar capacity will significantly pare its carbon footprints.
“To balance the impact of price volatility of fuel, the 12MW solar power will be contracted from Solarus to reduce diesel fuel consumption in the daytime while the sun is producing power,” SOCOTECO I president Remigio Armada has noted.
The major industries and sectors in the province which would be in need of dependable power would include corn farms in Banga, the mining area in Tampakan; and its vast residential customer base. (MMV)   source