Mindoro power supply deal finalized

Business Mirror

25 Feb 2014 

 

Written by Lenie Lectura

RENEWABLE-energy developer Emerging Power Inc. (EPI) and Occidental Mindoro Electric Cooperative Inc. (Omeco) are set to sign a power-supply contract this Friday.

EPI will become the sole supplier of geothermal energy for the entire island of Mindoro after it recently agreed with Oriental Mindoro Electric Cooperative Inc. (Ormeco) on a similar deal.

EPI is expected to sign the power- supply agreement (PSA) with Omeco on February 28, said its spokesman Gani Capaning.

Under the agreement, EPI will provide 20 megawatts (MW) to Omeco to be sourced from its $180-million Montelago geothermal power facility in Oriental Mindoro. EPI also supplies 20 MW to Ormeco.

Rep. Josephine Ramirez-Sato of Occidental Mindoro expressed optimism over the geothermal plant’s positive economic impact on the province.

Rep. Reynaldo Umali of Mindoro Oriental, the House energy committee chairman, meanwhile, said, “EPI’s move to energize the entire island with geothermal energy will help to make Mindoro the green capital of the Philippines.”

Umali stressed that EPI’s project will help bring down the cost of electricity in Mindoro from P11 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) to only P6.58 per kWh, a 40-percent rate reduction, which is expected to translate in P2.1 billion in electricity bill savings in about four years.

“What’s more, we will no longer need subsidy from the main grid. This means consumers from other parts of the country do not need to pay for that subsidy. This will also reduce their electric bill,” Umali added.

The EPI spokesman pointed out that if investments in coal and oil-based power plants are pursued “consumers will be paying P40 per kWh by year 2030.”

Capaning said EPI’s power facility will stabilize the price of electricity over the next 20 years and consumers will only pay a maximum of P7.50 by 2030.

Antonie de Wilde, EPI chief technical adviser, said the high cost of diesel and bunker fuel has been jacking up the cost of electricity in the country’s main power grids.

De Wilde said the project would further attract investors to Mindoro. “The stability or reliability investors will seek can be provided by geothermal power.”

“With this project, the people of Mindoro and the Philippines could be assured of a sustained supply of clean and affordable power, as opposed to power derived from such fossil fuels as coal and petroleum,” de Wilde added.   source