CAGAYAN DE ORO
CITY—Electricity consumers in Mindanao would have to endure continued
power outages until 2016, when the construction of new coal-fired power
plants goes full steam, it was learned over the weekend.
The energy committee
of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) reached this
conclusion last week after reviewing the government’s responses to
resolutions on tackling issues in the power and fuel sector that were
submitted to President Aquino at the conclusion of the 2012 Philippine
Business Conference.
Mindanao, except the cities of Davao and Cagayan de Oro, endures daily power shortages that result in brownouts.
Robert Calilim,
chairman of the PCCI’s sub-committee on power, told representatives of
the power sector in Mindanao, as well as some of the country’s biggest
power companies, that a solution could be adopted if the government
activates the hydroelectric generators in the area during peak hours.
In his presentation,
Calilim, also a senior executive of the power-generation subsidiary of
San Miguel Corp., boldly proposed making coal-fired geothermal and
diesel plants the baseload electricity generators.
He said hydropower plants along the Agus and Polangi rivers in Bukidnon province should only be used during peak hours.
Calilim explained that
the peak-hour requirements of Mindanao totals only 1,279 megawatts,
much lower than the generating capacity of power-generating plants in
the area that was initially computed at over 1,600 megawatts.
“The region has excess capacity of 400 megawatts. There should be no shortage there,” he said.
This approach to the
brownout problem has not been taken, however, because of an existing
policy that requires using the hydropower plants as baseload generators.
This means the electricity these produce will be used first.
According to Calilim,
this policy continues to be observed because the electricity produced by
the dams is much cheaper than other energy sources.
A trade-off will be
necessary, and consumers will have to pay about P1 more per
kilowatt-hour with the diesel plants, including power barges deployed
there once the power crisis starts to worsen.
Calilim assured,
though, the sacrifice would be temporary. Once coal-fired plants are
connected to the grid, these will replace diesel plants as baseload
sources of power.
