The Aquino administration must redouble its efforts toward ensuring energy security for the country if it wanted to attract more investors, the umbrella organization of European companies operating here said on Friday.
Aboitiz Power Corp. is on track to completing P35 billion worth of projects in Mindanao, which can deliver over 300 megawatts of much-needed power to the electricity-starved island by 2015.
Power consumers in Mindanao may have to brace for longer outages next year as the expected supply crunch may peak to as much as 300 megawatts during the summer, much higher than the previous projection of a 200-MW shortfall.
The severe power supply crunch in Mindanao may have started to ease with the completion of preventive-maintenance activities for the first unit of the 210-megawatt coal-fired power facility of Steag State Power Inc. last Sunday.
The power supply situation in Mindanao during the summer of 2013 remains highly critical and may possibly mirror the 10-hour power outages experienced in 2010, unless the government is able to successfully pull off all the measures needed to plug the shortfall.
Power consumers in Mindanao will have to brace themselves for a more severe power shortfall starting this month when the 210-megawatt coal-fired power plant of Steag State Power Inc. in Misamis Oriental undergoes preventive maintenance.
The Mindanao power crisis, which has resulted in frequent outages during the summer months, is expected to continue until 2015.
About 84 percent of the businesses in Mindanao have been incurring severe declines in their revenues, reaching as high as P50,000 for every hour of power outage, according to French energy specialist firm Schneider Electric.
Mindanao may face another power supply shortage of as much as 200 megawatts by the summer of next year, should no additional power facilities be put in place to shore up existing capacities in the electricity-starved island.
Aboitiz Power Corp. is spending as much as P170 billion over the next several years to put up new power projects and rehabilitate existing facilities to maximize capacities and improve reliability—a move that is expected to shore up the available power supply across the country.
Manila Electric Co. the country’s biggest power distributor, has been given the green light to implement a project that will allow it to conduct large-scale pilot tests for the prepaid retail electricity scheme by July this year.
State-run National Power Corp. (Napocor) is picking up the pace of rehabilitation of the 255-megawatt Pulangui IV hydroelectric power plant in Bukidnon, to help minimize the power interruptions that have been plaguing the island since the beginning of the year.
