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Thursday, January 22, 2004
Power barge, additional 25mw to keep Cebu supply steady
By Liberty A. Pinili
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
AS the National Transmission Corp. (Transco) launched its projects to improve power supply in the Visayas, Cebu Gov. Pablo Garcia said he hopes the undertakings will be completed as planned.
Transco’s P13.2-billion Visayas Transmission Augmentation Program (Vista) is scheduled to be completed between February 2005 and August 2007.
In the meantime, to address the power supply problems in Cebu, Transco plans to lease a 10-megawatt modular power generator for Panitan, Panay; transfer a 32-megawatt power barge from Mindoro to Panay; transfer the 110-megawatt Pinamucan diesel plant to Dingle, Panay.
Transco also started acquiring last November, 25 megawatts from the Toledo Power Corp. (TPC). It will continue to purchase back-up power from TPC until June this year.
By February 2005, Transco hopes to complete the uprating of the Leyte-Cebu submarine cable that will raise Cebu’s dependable power capacity from 616 to 667 megawatts and increase reserve to 29 to 41.9 percent.
Meanwhile, National Power Corp. (Napocor) senior vice president for generation Pio Benavidez assured that even if the two thermal plants of Salcon in Naga, Cebu will be shut down for maintenance work starting end of this month, reserve power for Cebu will be able to cover the demand.
According to data presented by Transco, Cebu will have reserves ranging from 1.2 to 9.2 percent from this month to end of this year.
The ideal reserve requirement, though, is 13.2 percent.
Transco president Dr. Allan Ortiz said despite the “very precarious” reserves, the operation of power barges in Panay will provide Cebu sufficient power.
He said outages will happen from time to time, but these will be due to maintenance.
In his speech during the launching at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel, Ortiz assured Governor Garcia that the power uprating projects for Visayas will be completed “on time, on budget.”
“There is no reason to doubt (that the projects) will not be completed,” said Philippine Electric Marketing Corp. president and Energy Assistant Secretary Lasse Hollopainen. “We are beginning to see the start of a solution.”
Ortiz admitted, though, that political change and realignment of priorities by political leaders might derail the projects.
But even if this happens, “sooner or later they will come around,” he said. “This is too important to be politicized.”
“I hope that these will be completed…not like the promises of politicians,” Garcia said.
Ortiz urged the private sector to start investing in power generation, saying government can no longer afford to subsidize.
The P13.2-billion Vista project will be financed mostly by funds from Miyazawa and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation.
Transco stated that the Cebu-Negros-Panay uprating project, to be completed in December 2005, will raise the capacity of the existing submarine cables in Tañon and Guimaras Straits to 200 megawatts.
The Cebu-Negros interconnection uprating is also expected to be completed by December 2005 and will improve the transfer of electricity through the underground cable connecting Negros and Cebu.
Still under Vista, the Panay backbone transmission that will involve the construction of two substations with a combined capacity of 150 megavolts amperes will be completed in August 2007.
Ortiz said people should rethink their desire for “cheap” electricity. “It is no longer the way forward.”
Sufficient supply of affordable energy is the most important, Ortiz said.
Adequate supply of affordable energy will invite more investments, which in turn will create more jobs and raise the ability of people to buy the electricity they need, he explained.
In the launching, Transco signed two contracts related to the Cebu-Mactan interconnection project: with China Xian Electric Group for the construction of 400-megavolt ampere capacity substations and with Kanematsu and J-Power for the installation of underground cable.
The project, to be completed in August 2005, will ensure adequate power supply for Mandaue and Mactan.
(January 22, 2004 issue)
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