THE Energreen Power Development and Management Inc. announced Monday that it will start the commercial operation of its 18.9-megawatt diesel or blended fuel power plant located in Barangay Calumangan, Bago City on January 26.
David Tan, technical consultant of Energreen project firm Central Negros Power Reliability Inc., said Power Unit 2 will first start its operation to be followed by Power Unit 1 on January 29.
The third power engine will operate on February 26; fourth engine, April 26; and the spare unit, June 25.
The announcement was made after Energreen came under fire for its failure to deliver the power supply on the initial schedule of December 26, 2014.
Energreen will supply “peak and reserve” power to Central Negros Electric Cooperative (Ceneco) under a 15-year power sales contract signed on December 2010. Ten days later, the Department of Energy launched the Wholesale Spot Electricity Market (WESM).
According to Energreen, Ceneco asked them to hold the project so that they can study first the impact of WESM on the consumers.
An amended memorandum of agreement was signed on December 13, 2011 afterwhich Energreen looked for a site.
On June 2013, Ceneco again demanded changes in the contract and they negotiated again, the firm said.
Then on February 2014, they communicated with the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines for grid connection requirements.
On July 2014, Ceneco proposed to put in one document all the changes called the supplementary agreement where they stated delivery deadline which is November to December 2014.
Section 1E stated that if Energreen fails to deliver, it has a 90-day automatic extension. If they cannot deliver, Ceneco has the right to terminate the contract but parties can agree to extend the delivery dates.
“The supplementary agreement is just a supplement. There is a main contract which had provisions on building a plant which include force majeure to cover delays beyond our control,” Tan said.
Meanwhile, a motion for reconsideration was filed by the Utilities Consumers Alliance of Negros (Ucan) before the Energy Regulatory Commission, questioning the extended provisional authority it gave Energreen despite the latter’s failure to deliver the power supply to Ceneco.
The ERC, in its order dated October 22, 2015, extended the provisional authority of Energreen on Nov. 10, 2014, until revoked or made permanent by the Commission, considering that the diesel plant’s application is still being evaluated.
Ucan legal counsel Vicente Petierre III said they filed a motion to investigate before the ERC for failure of Energreen to deliver power supply to Ceneco from November 26, 2014 until October 26, 2015.
They are also planning to elevate the matter before the Court of Appeals, he added.