By Danessa Rivera (The
Philippine Star) | Updated February 24, 2016 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines – Alsons Power
Group will operate two of its three Mindanao-based diesel power plants as
merchant facilities this year to address the critical need for power supply in
several areas in the region, a ranking company official said.
The group’s plants under Western
Mindanao Power Corp. (WMPC) and Southern Philippines Power Corp. (SPPC) were
placed under an 18-year energy conversion agreement (ECA) with National Power
Corp. (Napocor). This means the output of these plants were exclusively sold to
Napocor, which provide supply to off-grid areas.
However, Alsons Power Group vice
president and business manager for diesel operations Edgar Sevilles said WMPC
is now operating as a merchant plant after its ECA was terminated last Dec. 12.
“WMPC is now a merchant plant
starting Dec. 30 and this means we will have multiple customers. Before we only
have one customer, which is Napocor,” he said.
The customers of the 100-megawatt
(MW) WMPC diesel-fired plant in Zamboanga, now include Zamboanga City Electric
Cooperative Inc., Davao Light and Power Co. and Cagayan Electric Power &
Light Co. Inc.
“All these distribution utilities
are getting power from our plant and we are being dispatched last January at
around 54 percent capacity factor. But this month, it will be higher because of
the problem with supply so we are estimating that we will go up to 70 percent,”
Sevilles noted.
The other Alsons diesel power plant
under ECA is the 55-MW SPPC coal plant in Alabel, Sarangani.
The company official noted the
output of SPPC is still contracted to Napocor but this will lapse in April 28,
2016.
“After termination, we will revert
to a merchant plant operation with multiple customers,” Sevilles said.
Once the ECA is terminated, SPPC
will supply to Davao Light, he added.
The company official highlighted
that these two plants are the only operating plants in their respective
corridors, WMPC in the western part of Mindanao and SPPC in the southern part
of the island region.
“WMPC is a very important plant in the
grid in such that its location is very strategic as far as power supply of the
island is concerned. In case there are line outages, which is also being
highlighted recently due to bombings, this plant will support Zamboanga City
and Zamboanga Peninsula,” Sevilles said.
Meanwhile, SPPC supports the the
southern portion of the island region, which has a high load demand, he added.
Alsons Power Group also owns another
diesel plant – the 103-MW plant in Iligan City under Mapalad Power Corp.
Since it was acquired from the
Iligan City government in 2013, the 103-MW power plant has been operating as a
merchant plant.
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