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DAVAO
CITY—The National Transmission Corp. (Transco) here
believes that the completion of the P3-billion
transmission project connecting Maramag in Bukidnon to
Bunawan in Davao City will ease the anxiety of a
supposed power crisis in this southern Philippine island
in a couple of years.
But
without much adequate information on both the looming
power crisis and the current transmission projects of
Transco, including the generation projects of the
National Power Corp.-accredited power companies, the
Davao City Council announced it was holding an energy
summit “to determine the real score of the issue and to
equip us with the necessary data to plan and respond.”
Milfrance Capulong, corporate communications officer of
the Transco’s Southeastern Mindanao District, said, “I
believe that the power crisis can be solved by this
project because this is part of the backbone of the
transmission system in Mindanao,” referring to the
transmission project.
She said
that Mindanao’s current available power capacity stood
at 1,485 megawatts (MW), with a reserve of 531 MW for
any given day of consumption across
Mindanao. She said that peak load has reached 1,110 MW.
The
Maramag-Bunawan project was part of the
Abaga-Kirahon-Maramag-Bunawan 230-kilovolt transmission
line project, one of the loops from the Central Mindanao
grid in the Lanao area going toward southeastern
Mindanao area.
The
project construction was won by Korean firms Hyundai
Engineering Co. Ltd and Hyundai Corp, “for the survey,
design, supply of materials, installation and
commissioning of the line,” according to a statement of
Transco. The bid was awarded last month.
Most of
the occasional major power interruptions occur at the
Abaga line in Lanao del Norte, and Capulong said the
Abaga-Bunawan loop could now function uninterrupted if
similar incidents of power glitzes would happen.
With the
completion of this loop expected in the middle of next
year, Capulong said the power distribution to this
region would flow from two directions, including the old
line being currently used.
She said
that the Abaga-Kirahon line was also being started. The
Maramag-Bunawan subsection has a timetable of 430 days,
involving the “putting up of higher-capacity lines on
steel towers, building new switching stations and
boosting the capacity of associated substations to
handle bigger loads.”
The
Mindanao grid taps the Lanao Lake and its main Agus
River tributary for the power need of Mindanao.
A
previous estimate of the Transco estimated that 47
percent of power was being consumed in
Davao City and General
Santos City, and expected to grow its demand as more
investments also come in.
The
power requirement of the two cities were being helped by
the Mt. Apo Geothermal Plant in Kidapawan, North
Cotabato, and the 100-MW power barge in Maco, Compostela
Valley.
The
issue of a looming power crisis in
Mindanao, which began to float around in 2005 and supposed to hit
Mindanao in 2007, if there is no major policy and
actual investments in power capacity, has prompted the
Davao City Council to plan for an energy summit in the
first week of February.
Councilor Pilar Braga said she has sent out invitations
to companies, government agencies, business
organizations and other stakeholders who also assured
her that they would prepare their points of views and
positions on the issue.
Capulong
said, however, that the Transco has yet to receive an
invitation, although she assured that Transco officers
would make the rounds of the offices in Davao City,
which she said was part of the Transco’s annual
visitation project with clients.
Transco
usually targets in their visits their six major
distributors or clients: Davao Light and Power Co.,
Davao del Sur Electric Cooperative, Davao del Norte
Electric Cooperative, Davao Oriental Electric
Cooperative, the Apex Mines Corp., and the Holcim cement
plant. |
