Sunday, January 12, 2014

Projects for off-grid sites set to begin -- Napocor


Business World Online
Posted on January 12, 2014 09:28:41 PM

NATIONAL POWER Corp. (Napocor) will start this quarter projects worth around P300 million intended to improve supply of electricity in areas outside the country’s grid, the state-run firm’s top official said in a text message late last week.

  Napocor President Gladys Cruz-Sta. Rita said on Thursday the company will start replacing old diesel power plants and developing solar power projects in areas managed by its Small Power Utilities Group (SPUG) within this quarter.

“We will start this year, in the first quarter. A lot of areas will benefit from those projects because that’s worth around P300 million,” the official said when asked for updates on the projects.

In November last year, Ms. Cruz-Sta. Rita said Napocor had earmarked some P154.8 million to replace 20 old diesel-fired plants to make power generation in affected areas more efficient.

These diesel plants will have a total capacity of 11 megawatts (MW), with capacity of each unit ranging from 260 kilowatts to 1.2 MW, she said.

Napocor’s SPUG currently operates diesel-fired power plants across 36 provinces in the country. These plants service 207 municipalities and 770,000 households.

Besides the replacement of diesel power plants, Ms. Cruz-Sta. Rita had said Napocor would spend approximately P100-150 million to implement a renewable energy program in off-grid areas.

Napocor’s SPUG is mandated by Republic Act No. 9136, or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2011, to provide electricity to remote barangays and villages or areas not connected to the country’s power grid. -- C. A. M. C. Feliciano   source

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