NEA eases power woes in Occidental Mindoro

STILL AT WORK Linemen in Mamburao, Occidental Mindoro, inspect and repair power lines and transformers even as the province suffers from outages lasting several hours a day. —PHOTO FROM OCCIDENTAL MINDORO ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE FACEBOOK PAGE

CITY OF CALAPAN—The National Electrification Administration (NEA) on Tuesday announced that a new power supplier was tapped to augment the electricity supply of Occidental Mindoro amid the lingering power crisis in the province.

NEA Administrator Antonio Mariano Almeda went to Occidental Mindoro so his agency could help in easing the massive outages plaguing the province since early this month, a post on the Facebook page of Occidental Mindoro Electric Cooperative (Omeco) said.

Almeda inspected the power plants of Occidental Mindoro Consolidated Power Corp. (OMCPC) and of the new power distributor, Power Systems Inc. (PSI), located in San Jose town. PSI’s diesel-fired plant has a dependable capacity of 5 to 6 megawatts (MW), which could address the rotational brownouts in the province.

Almeda said he wanted to ensure that the plant could operate properly according to the contract.

“[The] NEA will contract PSI for a period of two months as a matter of subsidy from the national government. This will not be passed on to consumers,” Almeda said in a statement.

According to Omeco, PSI will start to supply the power distributor by noon of April 29.

Nonpayment

Earlier, Omeco said that it was getting only 12 MW from its lone power supplier, OMCPC, much lower than the province’s demand of 30 MW.

Since April 13, OMCPC decided to operate at only 7.5 MW because of the nonpayment by the National Power Corp. of its fuel subsidy.

Four modular generator sets, which were used in 2013 during the Mindanao power crisis, are also being considered to supplement the power demand in Occidental Mindoro.

The NEA also requested DMCI Power Corp. (DPC) to provide electricity to Omeco soon.

Omeco already secured a certification from the Department of Energy exempting the cooperative from conducting a competitive selection process to procure electricity. This means it can immediately sign an emergency power supply agreement (Epsa) with DPC covering 17 MW of electricity.

“DMCI promised to roll out 10 MW in a matter of 30 days and the 7 MW in two months,” said Almeda.

However, since the Epsa will take effect until March next year, Omeco would have to eventually conduct a competitive bidding to sign a longer-term contract to meet its energy requirements.

The NEA also inspected two units of diesel generator sets, with a capacity of 2 MW each and owned by electric cooperatives in Eastern Visayas, before these are shipped to Occidental Mindoro.

“Another two units of diesel generator sets (also at 2 MW per unit) are currently being assessed, and put in reserve in case needed,” the NEA said.

On April 11, the provincial board placed Occidental Mindoro under a state of calamity due to power outages lasting several hours daily.

The state of calamity declaration allowed the provincial government to tap into funds to buy fuel and additional generator sets to continue essential public services.