Power co-op turns solar to meet demand

MANILA, Philippines—An electric cooperative in Mindanao is securing additional power supply from a 12-megawatt solar facility in South Cotabato to address the worsening power crisis on the electricity-starved island.

In a statement, the South Cotabato Electric Cooperative Inc. (Socoteco I) said it would contract solar power from Solarus Partners, which will build the 12-MW power facility.

Solarus Partners is a partner of Mp Tec, the biggest solar energy company in Germany. Once completed, the solar power plant in Surallah, South Cotabato will surpass the 1-MW solar facility in Cagayan de Oro, making it the biggest solar photovoltaic (PV) power project in the country today.

Socoteco I president Remigio Armada explained that the reduced dependability of  the Agus-Pulangi hydropower complexes, which has been providing close to half of Mindanao’s electricity requirements, has pushed the electric cooperative to adopt coping mechanisms in order to avert prolonged brownouts in its franchise area.

“The need to contract more power supply became … urgent for South Cotabato Electric, given the fact that the National Power Corp. (Napocor) has indicated reluctance to provide 20 MW of [our] demand,” added Socoteco I general manager Santiago Tudio.

In the past, Tudio said, the cooperative relied on Napocor for the supply of its power requirements. Socoteco’s contract with Napocor for a 20-MW supply however ends this August.

“We have to find our own solutions and aggressively secure power from independent producers in order to protect our residential and commercial customers from power interruptions. The economy of the province is growing fast, and South Cotabato Electric has to support the growth by delivering power when needed,” Tudio explained.

Recently, Socoteco I contracted a power supply agreement from a diesel facility to answer the energy requirements of Koronadal City, and the growing town of Surallah, the corn farms in Banga, the mining area in Tampakan, and residential areas of Norallah.

The planned 12-MW solar power facility can thus help balance the impact of the price volatility of fuel, because it will reduce diesel fuel consumption during the daytime, Armada said.