MANOLO FORTICH, Bukidnon—Hedcor Inc., the wholly-owned AboitizPower subsidiary that specializes in generating “cleanergy” from run-of-river hydropower systems will “more than double” its installed capacity in Mindanao once its two power plants in this municipality go online in 2016.
Hedcor is currently constructing two cascading plants in this municipality known to be the home of the first pineapple plantation in the far east: the 43.4-(megawatt) MW Manolo Fortich Hydro 1 and the 25.4 MW Manolo Fortich Hydro 2. Groundbreaking ceremony for these plants was held on April 22.
The P12.5-billion plants will have a combined installed capacity of 68.8 MW and will generate a total of 360 gigawatt-hour (GWh) of electricity every year.
“This will be the biggest plant of Hedcor anywhere. Once this goes online, we will more than double our installed capacity in Mindanao in 2016,” said Rene B. Ronquillo, Hedcor president and chief operating officer.
Once they go online, the Manolo Fortich hydropower plants will bring Hedcor’s total installed capacity in Mindanao to 129.7 MW. At present, Hedcor’s total installed capacity in Mindanao is 60.97 MW.
Hedcor’s present Mindanao hydropower plants are the Tudaya Hydro 1 (6.6 MW) and Tudaya Hydro 2 (7 MW) in Davao del Sur and Davao City; Sibulan Hydro A (16.50 MW) and Sibulan Hydro B (26 MW) in Santa Cruz, Davao del Sur; Talomo Hydro 1 (1 MW) in Calinan, Davao City; Talomo Hydro 2A (0.65 MW) and Talomo Hydro 2B (0.30 MW), Talomo Hydro 2 (0.60 MW) in Mintal; and Talomo Hydro 3 (1.92 MW) in Catalunan Pequeno, Davao City.
Aside from doubling its capacity in Mindanao, the Manolo Fortich plants will add to the total energy mix in Mindanao and help “lighten” the so-called Mindanao power crisis prevailing since 2010. “With the incoming coal plants of Aboitiz Power Corp. and other developers, Mindanao should be okay as far as base-load is concerned two to three years from now,” Ronquillo told The BusinessMirror.
Ronquillo explained that while coal plants are reliable base-load plants, especially during the summer months in Mindanao when rivers and dams usually dry up, they are still unreliable in the long run because of the volatile prices of coal in the international market. “Indigenous plants are more reliable in that sense,” he said.
The Philippines is a net importer of coal to power the country, which is why power-industry players and the energy department always say that the country’s power/energy is imported, thus it has the highest electricity rate in Southeast Asia.
“In Aboitiz, we believe that the best strategy in moving forward would be through the power-energy mix. That’s why aside from the coal plants that we have in Mindanao now, we are also developing more hydro and also looking at geothermal plants in other parts of Mindanao,” Ronquillo said.
Fossil fuel (coal, oil, etc.) power 72 percent of the country’s electricity requirement while a measly 28 percent is sourced from renewable energy (RE). The Mindanao Power Monitoring Committee (MPMC) said that by 2019 and 2020, Mindanao’s power mix will consist of 56 percent coal and only 24 percent hydro; a reversal of the present 52 percent hydro and 10 percent coal. RE sources, such as biomass and solar energy, will remain at 1 percent each by 2020 while geothermal power, which is at 5 percent now, will be down to only 4 percent by 2020.
Cagayan de Oro City is suffering from two to three hours of power outages daily as the present electricity supply to the grid could not cope with demand.
The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines said in its power-situation outlook as of April 24 that Mindanao’s system capacity was at 1,438 MW, while its system peak was at 1,397 MW with zero reserved capacity.
The Manolo Fortich power project, according to Manuel M. Orig, AboitizPower first vice president for Mindanao, “is the first hydropower project of Hedcor in Bukidnon which will soon help provide additional reliable supply of Cleanergy, AboitizPower’s brand of clean and renewable energy to Mindanao.”
Once online, the Manolo Fortich plants will generate electricity for the whole of Mindanao as it will be sold directly to the grid and not to an electric cooperative, Ronquillo said.
By Bong Fabe / Correspondent