THE offer of coal power producer Global Business Power Corporation-Panay Energy Development Corporation (GBPC-PEDC) to supply power to Central Negros Electric Cooperative (Ceneco) stays, but until now, Ceneco has not responded.
“As early as 2012, the company has already made the cheapest offer to power distribution utilities in Visayas,” said GBPC commercial manager Rodolfo Romero during the Christmas party the company hosted for the Bacolod media at Planta Hotel Monday.
“It is up to Ceneco to decide, but the offer remains intact,” he added.
Romero said they offered a rate of P5.05 per kilowatt hour (kWh), which was then computed to only P4.67 per kWh, for electric cooperatives in Visayas, including Ceneco.
He added that although Negros Occidental is considered the country’s renewable capital, coal power is still needed to provide the base load or 24-hour power requirements of electric cooperatives that renewables cannot supply.
In April this year, the GBPC-PEDC signed a 25-year Electric Power Purchase Agreement (Eppa) with the Panay Guimaras Consortium, which will be sourced from its 150-MW expansion project.
GBPC officials reported that 68 percent of the project has been completed already, and they are confident to commence operations by August next year.
In Negros Occidental, GBPC has partnered with Roxas Holdings Inc. for the establishment of a 40-megawatt (MW) biomass power generation plant in La Carlota City.
Romero said the biomass power plant is the first renewable energy source venture of the company targeted to be operational starting 2017.
“It is a renewable energy source since the plant will utilize waste to energy development process,” he said, adding that it will use bagasse, or the dry pulpy residue left after the extraction of juice from sugar cane.
In a message of Jaime Azurin, executive vice president of GBPC, delivered by environment manager Rex Debuque, he said “through Panay Energy’s additional capacity, Panay can be assured of adequate, reliable and cost- efficient power supply that can sustain the rapid economic development in the island.”
Debuque also noted various developments in the company’s corporate social responsibility programs aligned with the unique needs of its immediate communities.
These include the construction of barangay health centers, day care centers, waiting sheds, and chapels, he added.