11.9-MW bunker power plant to stop brownouts in Koronadal, environs

GEN. SANTOSCITY (PNA) -- The daily rotational brownouts affecting parts of South Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat provinces are expected toease by the end of the month, with the operationalization of Supreme Power Corporation’s (SSC) 11.9-megawatt (MW) bunker-fired power plant in nearby Koronadal City.Santiago Tudio, South Cotabato 1 Electric Cooperative (Socoteco 1) general manager, said Tuesday SSC has committed to start the operations of the power plant in two weeks to help address the continuing power shortage in the area.He said the plant has long been completed but the company is still waiting for the issuance of proper permits from the Energy Regulatory Commission and the Department of Energy. The company is targeting to fully operate the power plant by March 26 or 27,” he said in a radio interview.SSC and its partner Next Power Consortium Inc. launched the construction of the power plant in January 2015 in a property owned by Socoteco 1 in Matulas, Barangay Paraiso in Koronadal City.Based on the company’s agreement with Socoteco 1, the power plant, which will be powered by modular generator sets from South Korea, will be embedded into the systems of the electric cooperative.SSC will operate the plant for 15 years and will directly serve the needs of Socoteco 1’s service or franchise area, which covers Koronadal City, eight municipalities in South Cotabato and Lutayan town in Sultan Kudarat.After 15 years, he said, the company will transfer the ownership of the plant to the cooperative at no cost.Tudio said the operationalization of the power plant will offset the current shortage of 3 to 5 MW in the area’s daily power requirement, which reaches around 36 MW.Socoteco 1 earlier implemented one to two-hour rotational brownouts within its service area as a result of the power supply shortage.The official said the deficiency is mainly due to the reduction of the cooperative’s contracted power supplies from the National Power Corporation’s (NPC) hydroelectric plants.He said the generation capacity of NPC’s power plants has declined these past weeks due to effects of the worsening drought triggered by the continuing El Nino Phenomenon.Aside from NPC, Socoteco 1 draws power supplies from the diesel-fired power plants of the Mapalad Power Corporation and Therma Marine Inc., and the solar power plant of the NV Vogt Philippines Solar Energy One Inc. in Surallah, South Cotabato.