Mindanao Power Coops To Set Up Media Desk

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / September 3, 2008) - The Association of Mindanao Rural Electric Cooperative (AMRECO), the umbrella organization of 36 rural electric cooperatives in Mindanao, said it will put up its own Media and Communication Affairs Desk to effectively and regularly inform power consumers about its electrification program.

AMRECO Executive Director Clint Pacana said the proposed creation media desk is significant because this will regularly inform consumers what the association is doing for them and what it intends to do in the short, medium and long term development plans.

 

In the planning workshop held recently in Cagayan de Oro City, the AMRECO study team designated an officer who will head the Media and Communication Affairs Desk until such time it shall become a bureau. 

 

Also present during the planning workshop are AMRECO Legal Counsel lawyer Conchito Oclarit and representatives of the power cooperatives ZAMCELCO, LANECO, MOELCI -1 , MOELCI = 2, BUSECO, MORESCO-1.

The next AMRECO board meeting is scheduled on September 5 at the Innland Resort in  Butuan City, it said in a statement.

Rebels Free Captured Soldier In South RP

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Oct. 29, 2007) – Communist rebels on Monday freed an army soldier after more than three weeks in captivity in the southern Philippines.

Aris Francisco, spokesman for the New People’s Army (NPA) Alejandro Command in Southern Mindanao, said rebels freed Sgt. Raul Reyes at around 12 p.m. in the remote village of Casoon in Monkayo town in Compostela Valley province.

“The decision to release POW Sgt. Raul Reyes is based on humanitarian grounds particularly the request of his family. Also the investigating body of the NPA found no grave crimes that are individually attributable to the said prisoner of war,” he told the Mindanao Examiner.

Reyes was seized with two other militiamen Glorieto Mahumas and Ruddy Villaflor, also a village chieftain, in October 7 after NPA forces raided a government post in the village of Canidkid in Montevista town. The rebels carted 16 assorted automatic weapons.

The two militias had earlier escaped from rebels.

Francisco previously said the three would be tried for crimes committed against civilians. He said the two militias were active in local paramilitary recruitment and had been instrumental in putting up military detachments in the Montevista villages.

“The Philippine military units deployed in the area - the 72nd and the 60th Infantry Battalions had been notorious in committing grave human rights abuses and violations,” Francisco said.

He said Reyes was released to representatives of Compostela Valley Gov. Arturo Uy and Rep. Manuel Zamora.

The rebels earlier sought a suspension of all military offensives in the province in exchange for the release of the hostages, but this was flatly rejected by the government.

“The refusal of the Eastern Mindanao Command-Armed Forces of the Philippines to implement a suspension of military operations is a clear manifestation of its negligent treatment towards their own rank-and-file personnel, paramilitary elements and non-commissioned officers captured as POWs and to the demands of their families. Had the SOMO been implemented, the POW would have been released earlier,” Francisco said.

There were no immediate statements from the military.

The rebels are fighting the democratic Filipino government for the establishment of a Maoist state in the country. (Juan Magtanggol)

Zamboanga Gets New Power Plant

ZAMBOANGA CITY (Darwin Wee / 20 Dec) – To prevent power shortage and fully meet the growing electricity demand in Zamboanga City, the state-owned National Transmission Corporation (Transco) said it is fast-tracking the construction of a 100-megavolt ampere power sub-station and a new 138-kilovolt transmission lines in January.

Transco officials said the P1-billion electric project will augment the power supply generated by the 100-megavolt Sangali sub-station, which currently supply the entire city's electric demand.

"With the fast-rising numbers of households, malls, and factories in Zamboanga City, substation in Sangali can no longer service the increasing power demand in the city," Transco's North Western Mindanao project manager Gualberto Geonzon told the Mindanao Examiner.

He said Zamboanga city is increasing an average of 8 megawatt of electric consumption every year. Currently, Zamboanga's demand of power is pegged at 72 MW, but this could be higher because of the Christmas holiday where consumers use more electricity.

He said the construction of the new 100 MVA power sub-station in Pitogo district will supply the electricity to the city’s western part, where most of the major canning factories and industrial plants are located.

The existing Sangali sub-station will now supply the electric demands of the eastern part of Zamboanga, including the city’s business district. "The two sub-stations will now share the electric load of 40 MVA each," he explained.

The new 138-KV double circuit transmission line, on the other hand, is expected to help sustain the Sangali sub-station which serves as the end point of the Mindanao Grid.

Geonzon said Transco is currently negotiating with land owners affected by the constructions of the 138-KV double circuit transmission by-pass line to allow them to put up steel towers for the 67-km long project from Sangali to Pitogo.

"Although, at least 80 percent of the affected lot owners have agreed to let us use their lands temporarily,” he said. "We cannot afford to delay this project as this will significantly affect the power supply in this city."The project costs about P1-billion under the so-called Miyazawa Fund, a loan from Japan. (Mindanao Examiner)

Mindanao Power Plant Operational By December

The Mindanao coal-fired power plant in Villanueva town in Misamis Oriental province. (Dante Sudaria)

MISAMIS ORIENTAL (Mike Banos / 01 Oct) – The construction of the Mindanao coal-fired power plant is proceeding as scheduled and should be operational by the end of the year, plant officials said.

"We are on the final stage of the power plant's commissioning. The first unit has passed the guarantee and efficiency test while the second unit is gearing-up for a reliability test in preparation for full operation by yearend," said Jerome Soldevilla, communications officer of Steag State Power Inc, (SPI), the project company of the Mindanao Coal-Fired Power Plant.

"Commercial operations will begin as planned not later than 31 December 2006 and we will have our official inauguration in January 2007" he added. "As of 27 September 2006, the power plant project attained a weighted progress achievement of 99%. Based on this figure vis-à-vis the timelines, we are on track and confident that it will commence commercial operations as committed."

Oliver Brock, head of Steag's commissioning team, has been working closely with his counterpart Y. Onishi, head of the Kawasaki Plant Construction, Inc. (a subsidiary of Kawasaki Heavy Industries) since the first quarter of the year for the commissioning of the first 105MW unit even as the second 105MW unit is being assembled nearby.

That may sound like good news for an island where demand is fast outstripping available power supply, but power supply in the island remains critical, as oil fired plants come down and repairs in its hydroelectric plants continue.

Emmanuel Abellanosa, officer-in-charge of the Office of the Assistant Vice President for Mindanao, said they have been constrained to implement voluntary power curtailment or "power shedding" at various times last summer due to imbalances between the available power from National Power Corporation (NPC) and the demand from residential, commercial and industrial users.

"There's not enough spinning reserve in the Mindanao grid to address contingencies," Abellanosa said.

NPC figures show the system gross reserve in Mindanao from the latter half of 2005 to year end 2006 was already insufficient to meet the 11.9-percent load following/frequency and spinning reserve requirements.

NPC president Cyril C. del Callar, earlier warned that "recurring power shortages are expected especially during peak periods, when generators and or associated transmission lines are on forced outage."

Peak power demand in Mindanao last summer topped 1,100 megawatts but the NPC only managed to supply an average of 1,050 megawatts to the Mindanao Power Grid. As a result, whenever there's a glitch in the distribution system, power is cut in some areas as the grid seeks to balance the remaining available power throughout the delicately balanced system.

Abellanosa said NPC's total power generation was curtailed due to rehabilitation works in the 92MW Agus IV Hydro-Electric Power Plant at Iligan City, the 255-megawatt Pulangi IV Hydro Electric Plant in Bukidnon and the 25MW Iligan Diesel Power Plant in Ditucalan, Iligan City, turned over a few years back by independent power producer Northern Mindanao Power Corporation.

As a result, power supply to the Zamboanga peninsula and nearby areas was curtailed by 50MW causing up to three hour power outages although Cagayan de Oro City managed to get by thanks to the 18MW Mindanao Energy Systems (Minergy) power plant which augmented available power to the local utility (Cagayan de Oro Electric Power & Light Co. or CEPALCO).

Rufino T. Magbanua, communications officer for Transco NCMA, said at least 85 percent of Mindanao has already been tapping independent power producers (IPPs) and NPC power barges particularly in key areas.

That's for the short term. Over the medium and long term, even if only ongoing base load coal-fired power plant in Villanueva, Misamis Oriental comes online as scheduled by year end, it's merely going to patch things over but not fix it.

Although the grid is being weaned away from its traditional dependence on hydroelectric power plants, the bulk of generated power in the island is still being sourced from the Agus Hydroelectric Power Plants in Iligan City and Lanao del Sur and the Pulangi Hydroelectric Power Plants in Maramag, Bukidnon.

The Regional Development Council in Region 10 (RDC-10) has sounded the alarm over the deteriorating power situation in Mindanao.

Arsenio L. Sebastian III, RDC-10 vice-chairman and Dr. Modesto Babaylan, RDC 10 infrastructure committee co-chairman, disclosed recently that Pulangi is producing only 100-120MW of its 255MW rated capacity due to accumulated siltation in the Pulangi River feeding its catchment basin.

Besides the lack of available funds to dredge the Pulangi river, Sebastian said they also have no place to dump the dredged silt taken from it.

Sebastian is also concerned the Mindanao coal–fired power plant might not be sufficient to meet energy demand in the island, citing Department of Energy statistics show a rising demand for power that the present supply might be unable to meet even with the new base load plant online.

Del Callar earlier said that from 2007 to 2008, power supply in Mindanao would be stable as the system gross reserve remains sufficient to meet the LFFR and spinning reserve with the scheduled commissioning of the 200 MW coal plant.

The average power supply reserve margin in the Mindanao grid from 2005 to 2008 is 7.26% with 2008 having the lowest projected power supply reserve margin of 3.93%. By 2009, peak demand for power in Mindanao will start to exceed the existing power capacity, with additional new capacity of about 57 MW to be needed for the year and an average of 116 MW every year thereafter.

But the environmental advocacy group Task Force Macajalar (TFC) has called on the NPC to review its projections.

TFM spokesperson BenCyrus Ellorin said Mindanao can sustain its power needs without resorting to fossil fuels like oil or coal because its existing hydropower plants are sufficient to meet the island's needs if their full potential of 12,000MW is tapped.

Latest NPC figures only show an existing power band of 982 –1,500 MW with independent power producers (IPPs) capable of another 543 MW.

NPC expects power demand in Mindanao to grow 11.8 percent from 2005-2011 and would need an installed capacity of 2,830MW by the end of this period with the Mindanao Coal-Fired Power Plant filling the gap.

Ellorin believes Mindanao would be better off if it rehabilitates its present hydroelectric power plants and reforest the watersheds that support them or inter-connect with the rest of the Philippine grid with the Leyte-Mindanao Inter-connection project.

The Mindanao grid is divided into three sub-grids - North, West, and South Mindanao. Of these, only North Mindanao enjoys an excess capacity while the West and South Mindanao grids have to import from the North Mindanao sub-grid to sufficiently address peak power demand in their respective areas.

The country's Power Development Plan for 2005 to 2014 stresses the importance of putting up more power generating plants in order to avert a power shortfall in the major islands of the country, particularly in Mindanao since the previous surplus has been effectively erased with the reopening of the National Steel Corporation (NSC, now Global Steel International, Inc. or GSII) steel plant in Iligan City.

In a recent forum to determine just how real the Mindanao Power Crisis is, CEPALCO Sr. Vice President David Tauli said there's no large power plant (e.g.., 100MW or larger) scheduled for construction in Mindanao from 2007-2011 after STEAG State Power Inc's 210MW coal-fired power plant goes online this year end.

By 2009, Tauli's projections show Mindanao's energy demand at 9,150 gigawatt hours while dependable power supply, SPI's coal-fired power plant included, would only be 9,200 GWh, way below the 11.9-percent load following/frequency and spinning reserve requirements of Transco and a generating system that's no longer "N-1" reliable.

Tauli said this would result to widespread and lengthy brownouts when a section of the transmission system goes on the blink. A drought like the one expected to hit the island soon would worsen this situation.

In the same forum, former NPC president Guido Alfredo Delgado concurred with Tauli's observations, citing how energy prices in Mindanao are too low, hence the lack of an economic incentive to add new capacity to the island's power grid.

"There are no creditworthy off-takers and no long term market, hence no long term funds available in the local market for investments in power generation, which by its very nature calls for long-term funds," Delgado noted. "On top of that, there are the stranded costs of Napocor and distribution utilities Mindanao power consumers are mandated to pay under the EPIRA."

Tauli, Delgado and Ellorin all agree the passage of the Renewable Energy Bill which has been languishing in Congress to include a mandatory "renewable power supply portfolio" for distribution utilities should lead to investments in renewable sources of electricity, but chances of the bill's passage before Congress goes into recess next month look dim. (Mindanao Examiner, with reports from Kagay-an.com)