Eastern Visayas still big on renewable energy

Eastern Visayas map. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

TACLOBAN CITY — Having a renewable source of energy is not new to the people of Eastern Visayas.

The region, after all, has been the home of one of the world’s biggest geothermal sources located in Tongonan town, Leyte since 1983.

The 123-megawatt (MW) Tongonan Geothermal Power Plant, which is managed by the Energy Development Corp. (EDC), provides power not only in Leyte but the rest of the country.

But despite the distinction, the quest for renewable energy in the region continues amid the world’s rising temperature due to climate change.

In Taft town, Eastern Samar, businessman Benjie Picardo put up the Taft Hydro Energy Company with a capacity of 16 MW taken from the Taft River.

The hydropower plant, located in Barangay San Rafael, has been operating since October 2022.

In April this year, Picardo ordered the construction of a solar farm in the same village. It has a capacity of 20 MW and is expected to be operational this September.

The combined capacities of these hydro and solar-sourced powers, he said, were more than enough to supply the needs of Eastern Samar which currently stand at 23 MW.

The Taft solar and hydropower plants will also help ease the high cost of power in the province, which is among the highest in the region at P19 per kilowatt.

The high cost of power was blamed on the high cost of generation charges that were passed on to its consumers.

The Eastern Samar Electric Cooperative (Esamelco) gets its power needs from GN Corporation, a coal-sourced company based in Bataan.

However, due to its contract with GN Corp. which is to expire in 2040, Esamelco could not totally secure its power needs from the Taft solar and hydro companies, said lawyer Jose Michael Edwin Amacio, the power cooperative general manager.

Esamelco has also entered into an emergency contract with EDC for 15 MW and another five megawatts from the Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco).

The Taft Hydro Energy Company is supplying the energy needs of some electric cooperatives connected to the National Power Corporation grid.

Once the solar farm project starts to operate in September, they could sell it at P5.07 per kilowatt to Esamelco.

At present, Esamelco buys its power needs from GN Corp. at P9 per kilowatts.

Eastern Samar Gov. Ben Evardone and Rep. Marcelino Libanan of the 4Ps party-list group openly questioned the high cost of power in the province which is unstable at times due to unscheduled power interruptions.

Both officials said the high cost of power in Eastern Samar is one reason why the province could not attract big investors.

Libanan said he was seeking a congressional inquiry due to the high cost of power in the province early this year.

“We are upbeat that once the proposed solar farm project, in particular, will be operational, they can help the power needs of the entire province [which has] been experiencing not only a high cost of power rate but unstable supply as well,” Picardo said.

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