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MANILA, Philippines – The Mindanao leaders of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) urged the Independent Power Producers (IPPs) in the region to optimize diesel-fired power plants to augment any shortfall of the hydropower plants.
Robert Mallillin, Chairman of the PCCI Power Committee, suggested that coal-fired, geothermal, and diesel plants be made baseload generators. The IPPs can then use hydro plants during peak hours.
He said the peak-hour requirement of the whole of Mindanao at 1,134 MW as against the total generating capacity of 1,884 megawatts available.
If fully utilized, diesel-fired power can contribute 650 MW; hydro, 924.1 MW; and coal, geothermal and renewable energy at 308 MW. This, Mallillin said, should give Mindanao an excess capacity of 750 MW.
“The power shortage has endured because of the policy of using hydro as baseload plant and hence first to be dispatched, which led and continue to lead to the under-utilization of diesel-fired power plants,” the PCCI said in a statement on Friday, April 12.
The Mindanao Development Authority-Mindanao Power Monitoring Commission (MinDA-MPMC) said that even if the 15-MW of Iligan Diesel Power Plant (IDPP) is already in operation, the resulting available capacity of 1,266 MW will still be 76 MW short of the projected peak demand of 1,299 MW.
The PCCI said amending the dispatch protocol to allow coal, geothermal and diesel to be dispatched first as baseload plants will encourage fossil fuel plants to run at full capacity.
In the short-term, it will also raise electricity cost in Mindanao by approximately P1.25 more or less per kilowatt-hour. But this will only be until the coal-fired plants are connected to the grid to replace diesel plants used as baseload sources of power. – Rappler.com
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