aboitizPower's coal plant to deliver electricity to Mindanao by April

KIDAPAWAN CITY -The first unit of the 300-MW thermal plant of AboitizPower subsidiary Therma South, Inc., is expected to synchronize with the Mindanao grid by Holy Week, says a top official. Benjamin Cariaso, president and chief operations officer of Therma South, Inc (TSI), said their customers will start receiving this April power from the 150-MW coal-fired power plant located at Toril district, Davao City. The timing could not have been better as the coming summer months are expected to affect the power output of Mindanao’s hydro power plants. Therma South will be able to assist our customers to cope with the demand for power,” Cariaso said. Cariaso explained that with TSI’s steam blowing operations for the first of two 150-MW units completed, the power plant is expected to start its reliability run the in the first half of April. During the tests, the power plant can deliver power to the grid, which can be availed of by Therma South customers,” he stressed. Data from TSI showed that full commercial operations of the first unit will start after the reliability test is successfully completed. The second 150-MW is also on track to meet its scheduled commercial operations timeline,” said Cariaso. The synchronization is being coordinated with the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP). More than 20 distribution utilities and electric cooperatives have signed up to receive capacity from Therma South. One of the customers that has signed a power supply contract with TSI is Cotabato Electric Cooperative (Cotelco), service provider for North Cotabato’s 98,000 power consumers. Cotelco spokesman Vicente Baguio said they bought at least 10MW power from TSI.