Industries and systems operator can avail of surplus power in Mindanao grid
Is it still possible to reduce the cost of electricity in today’s regime of skyrocketing power rates? The Association of Mindanao Rural Electric Cooperatives believes this can be done in Mindanao.
If AMRECO had its way, poor households like this farmer’s home in Baungon, Bukidnon would soon enjoy cheaper electricity (photo by Mike Baños, NPN)
AMRECO will ask the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) to request stakeholders in the Mindanao Grid to allocate the entire output of the Agus-Pulangi Hydroelectric Power Complex (APHC) for residential consumers.
During a press conference held 18 October at a hotel in Cagayan de Oro to drumbeat the forthcoming AMRECO Summit on November 25-26, AMRECO President Sergio Dagooc said the association will formally request the Mindanao Power Monitoring Committee (MPMC) Technical Working Group meeting on November 15 to implement measures which will make available to distribution utilities the remaining capacity of the APHC for distribution exclusively to residential consumers.
AMRECO Pres. Sergio Dagooc addresses a House Energy Committee Public Hearing held in Cagayan de Oro March 6, 2014. (RMB, NPN)
The MPMC was created through Executive Order No. 81 as an attached special body of the MinDA to spearhead and coordinate efforts of the national, regional, and local governments, and power industry stakeholders to improve the power situation in Mindanao.
“Instead of being allocated to industries and the systems operator, the cheap power from the APHC should be allocated to the distribution utilities (DUs), whether electric utilities or private, because the DUs are the ones serving the poorest of the poor, who are the targets of this administration for the reduction of electricity rates,” Dagooc stressed.
If only cheaper electricity from Mindanao’s hydropower plants were exclusively allocated for residential consumers, households like this Samal Laut fishermen in Greater Sta. Cruz Island could afford electricity
“Industries can easily absorb any additional cost this may entail since power constitutes but a fraction of their production cost,” he explained. “This is less than 20% of their generation mix since they have had a diminishing allocation for Agus and Pulangi.”
However, if you allocate even 1MW from Agus-Pulangi to a distribution utility like Moresco or Cepalco, this can already service thousands of households. That’s the basic idea behind this initiative, he added.
In addition, AMRECO will also ask the MPMC to ask systems operator National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) to source its ancillary requirements elsewhere to free up the allocation it is now getting from the hydros.
Agus VI Hydroelectric Plant in Bgy Maria Cristina, Iligan CIty (Napocor Photo)
At present, Engr. Glen Jay Reston, MPMC officer-in-charge, said only the Agus IV and Pulangi IV hydroelectric plants can only supply the regulating reserve needed by NGCP.
“However, this only requires 55 megawatts (MW),” Reston explained. “The 300MW ancillary reserve the system operator is required to maintain doesn’t necessarily have to be contracted from Agus-Pulangi and can now be easily sourced from other sources given the surplus in supply in Mindanao grid.”
Pulangi IV Hydroelectric Power Plant in Maramag, Bukidnon
“Under the Philippine Grid Code, the NGCP as grid operator is responsible for procuring the ancillary reserve for a particular grid. So instead of going to consumers, a big portion of the power mix coming from the Agus-Pulangi goes to NGCP as regulating reserve,” Dagooc explained.
“Now that there’s a surplus of power in the grid, we will ask NGCP to get their ancillary reserves elsewhere, so the cheap power coming from Agus-Pulangi can be allocated to the coops and private utilities serving households.”
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