COA approves sale of 100-MW Iligan plant

The Commission on Audit has finally approved the sale of the 100-megawatt Iligan diesel power plant to the Alcantara-led Alsons Consolidated Resources Inc.

In a briefing Friday, Energy Undersecretary Josefina Patricia M. Asirit said the COA decision issued early this month outlined certain conditions that should be met to pave the way for the acquisition of the diesel facility from the Iligan city government.

These conditions, Asirit explained, concerned a few turnover and ownership issues, acquisition costs, as well as transmission issues.

Alsons Consolidated is expected to fully operate the facility in six months or by April 2013, to address the expected 200-MW power supply shortage in Mindanao.

Asirit added that Alsons Consolidated said it can start generating the first 20 MW in just two months, before ramping it up to full capacity in about six months.

The city government of Iligan took over the diesel plant from state-run National Power Corp. about two years ago. It later awarded the plant to a subsidiary of Alsons Consolidated, Mapalad Power Corp., after it won a public bidding in 2011.

The COA then began a procedural review of the planned transfer, which was finally concluded this month.

Alsons Consolidated earlier said that it was prepared to spend P1.2 billion to rehabilitate the facility and bring it up to its full capacity within six months.

The 100-MW Iligan diesel facility is considered a crucial power asset in Mindanao as it can be quickly put into operation to help shore up supply in the electricity-starved island.

The power supply situation in Mindanao remains precarious given a deficit of 344 megawatts as of Friday, based on the data from the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines.

According to Asirit, Mindanaons are currently suffering from rotating brownouts lasting up to four hours daily due to the outages of a power unit each in the Agus 2, Agus 5 and Agus 6 hydropower plants and the 210-MW coal-fired plant of the Steag State Power Inc.

Add to that, the 255-MW Pulangi hydropower plant is generating less than half of its capacity at 114 MW.

Asirit said the government expects the shortage to ease by mid-November, following the completion of maintenance work at the Steag coal plant.