Vol. XXI, No. 228 [ Business World Online ]
Friday, June 20, 2008 | MANILA, PHILIPPINES
IN A BID to stabilize power supply in Panay, the National Power Corporation (Napocor) has leased at P216 million for the next 12 months a 15-megawatt generator set (gen set) to boost the island’s back-up electricity, Napocor said in a press statement yesterday.
Panay had been particularly affected by the tight power reserves in the Visayas because it is located at the tail-end of the power supply chain in the region. Power in the Visayas is distributed to Bohol, Cebu, Negros and then to Panay.
The generator, installed in Panit-an, Capiz, was leased from power firm Cummins Sales and Service Philippines and started operating last June 6.
No impact on rates
Use of the generator should not impact on generation charges, Napocor spokesman Dennis S. Gana said in a phone interview yesterday.
"There is no impact on rates since this will be under ancillary [backup] services," he said.
"The gen set will stabilize the voltage condition since currently the voltage is low," he explained.
Thin reserves
He pointed out that the excess power capacity in Panay is very "thin."
"Right now, we have available capacity of 145 MW, and the demand is 141 MW," he noted.
"As a standard, the excess power should be 13.1% of the demand. Right now we only have 4 MW excess," he said.
"By installing the 15-MW gen set we will be able to achieve the standard excess availability," he added.
Another 15-MW gen set will soon be deployed to Iloilo City to further boost power supply on the island.
In the same statement, Napocor noted that "the installation of an additional 30 MW in Panay will significantly boost power reserves in the province, which had been experiencing manual load dropping due to the tight power supply in the Visayas grid."
Short-term measures
Napocor’s move to deploy the gen sets to Panay is in response to the directive of President Gloria M. Arroyo last month to come up with short-term measures to address the power shortage on the island.
Ms. Arroyo is scheduled to lead the ceremonial switch-on of the Panit-an gen set today.
Energy Secretary Angelo T. Reyes had said in a power stakeholder’s meeting in Bohol last month that his agency plans to rehabilitate Napocor’s power barges in order to maximize their power output.
Mr. Reyes also vowed to promote an energy conservation campaign in Panay and to explore possible electricity co-generation arrangements with companies like Victorias Milling Company, the Central Azucarera de La Carlota and Biscom, Inc.
Existing supply
Napocor owns and operates the Panay Diesel Power Plant Complex, which is made up of the 36.5-MW Panay Diesel Power Plant 1 and the 80-MW Panay Diesel Power Plant 3 (formerly known as the Pinamucan plant) in Dingle, Iloilo.
Complementing the operations of these two land-based power plants are three Napocor barges: Power Barge (PB) 101 and 102 in La Paz, Iloilo, and PB 103 in Estancia, also in Iloilo.
These three power barges have a rated capacity of 32 MW each.
Located in Western Visayas, Panay Island consists of four provinces, namely: Aklan, Antique, Capiz and Iloilo.
Ranked as the sixth biggest island in the Philippines, it has a total land area of 4,446 square miles and a population of more than 3.6 million, based on 2000 census. — Ava Kashima K. Austria
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