CONTINUOUS power supply and less power outages are expected in Mindanao this coming summer months due to oversupply of electricity, an executive of the Aboitiz Power Corporation said.
Arturo Milan, Aboitiz Equity Ventures’ advisor for Mindanao, said during the Kapehan sa Davao at a mall in Davao Monday, March 6, that one of the reasons for the aggressive invitation and encouragement of investors in the region is the oversupply of electricity that Mindanao can offer until the next five years.
Milan is also a trustee of the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc and the chairman of this year's Davao Investment Conference.
He said Davao Light and Power Company (DLPC) entered into a contract of a 60 megawatts with San Miguel Corporation's coal-fired power plant in Malita, Davao del Sur. Through this, together with the other contracts, they have entered with other huge companies.
Milan said DLPC is pretty much covered in terms of contract in five years.
Milan said Aboitiz Power also supports and welcomes the implementation of Wholesale Electricity Spot Market in Mindanao.
"We really welcome it because that will make supply available at any given time. Once you're short, you can go to the spot market to buy your power requirement. We really welcome that this will be implemented very soon. And the timeline is sometime [in] June this year. We are also hoping that the Mindanao interconnection will be done the soonest possible time," he said.
By the end of the year, Milan said the electricity supply in Mindanao would double. Because of this, less power outages will be expected unless during unforeseen instances.
"Plants are subjected to unscheduled shut down. That's beyond already of our control. Like transmission. We can't really be assured that there would be no toppling of transmission towers. These are the unforeseen that might impact the supply of power in our franchise area," Milan said.