Published
By Myrna M. Velasco
Two of the mothballed
power barges from the 242-megawatt Therma Mobile, Inc. (TMO) bunker-C fired
power plant in Navotas will be transferred by the Aboitiz Power Corp. to
Visayas to cater to that grid’s ancillary services needs.
“It’s in the plan to
relocate one or two of the barges to where it’s going to provide ancillary
services, which is Visayas,” Aboitiz Power Chief Operating Officer Emmanuel V.
Rubio said.
Rubio said the transfer
plan will start with some components this year such as installing mooring and
connection facilities, but the full relocation of the two barges is still
targeted for completion in 2020.
“The movement (of the
barges) probably will take longer — we have to provide mooring facilities, we
need connection in the Visayas – so maybe a year,” he explained.
Ancillary services
refer to the power supply as well as reserves that the system operator (the
National Grid Corporation of the Philippines) will need so it can reliably and
efficiently serve load customers. That power supply is generally procured from
power generators.
Rubio explained the TMO plant mothballing was decided upon by the Aboitiz
conglomerate because of an unapproved supply contract which to date, just have
remaining duration of five months.
The company, in an
earlier disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), has noted that it
will “physically disconnect” the plant from the load network of Manila Electric
Company (Meralco), the previous utility off-taker of the plant’s capacity.
Given current
conditions, the company indicated that it will also be de-registering as a
trading participant in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) effective
February 5 this year.
Such decision,
according to the Aboitiz Group, had been “due to TMO’s commercial inactivity
since June 26, 2018 following the absence of an approved power supply agreement.”
It added that “after
evaluating the circumstances and the options available, TMO decided to mothball
its bunker-C fired diesel power plants.”
Corresponding to that move, the Aboitiz firm said it will be sending notices to
the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines Inc. (IEMOP),
which is the market operator of the WESM, as well as to the Department of
Energy and the Energy Regulatory Commission.
The TMO plant comprises
of four power barges that it originally acquired from the government-run Power
Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation (PSALM) in 2011.
When the company
purchased the assets, it spent for the rehabilitation of the generating units.
It was able to reinforce its efficiency generation up to the level of 200MW.
The initial capacity of
100MW was set on commercial operations in November 2013 and was fed to the load
network of Meralco – via a supply agreement that the relevant parties had
underwritten.
Full electricity
generation ramp up to the level of 200MW had been achieved in 2014 following
the completion of rehabilitation of the other units.
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