Mayor Rivera supports construction of new power plant in GenSan

By Ian John M. Lagare

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (05 June 2014) – City Mayor Ronnel Rivera has voiced out his support to the ongoing construction of a 20-megawatt power plant in the city.

The bunker fuel fired power plant being constructed by Peak Power SOCKSARGEN Inc., (PSI) is set to operate in September this year.

On Tuesday (June 3), Mayor Rivera attended the public hearing set by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) regarding the Power Purchase and Transfer Agreement (PPTA) between South Cotabato Electric Cooperative II (SOCOTECO II) and PSI.

 “The entry of Peak Power here in GenSan is an opportunity for us to give a lasting solution to the brownouts that are hitting the city. Of course, these brownouts are really affecting us severely and we in the local government are coordinating with SOCOTECO to address the concerns,” Mayor Rivera said.

For the past months, GenSan has experienced 2-4 hours of rotational brownouts, with other areas being served by SOCOTECO II also experiencing the same problem, or worse. 

According to SOCOTECO II, this is due to the low power allocation given by the National Power Corporation (NPC) to the cooperative, which is around 30MW.

It has dropped from 50MW to 20MW.

There are three independent power plants, aside from NPC, that supply electricity to the city; Therma Marine Inc. (30MW), Mapalad Power Corporation (30MW), and SoEnergy (15MW).

To sum up, GenSan’s total power supply is around 100MW which is still insufficient for the 120MW power requirement of the city.

PeakPower is contracted by SOCOTECO to provide around 20MW of electricity to augment the power insufficiency.

These power plants will operate during the city’s peak hours (8AM-10PM), when most establishments and individual consumers are usually using high loads of electricity.

Edgardo Calabio, PSI vice president, disclosed that the contract between SOCOTECO II and Peak Power will last for 15 years for their capital recovery.

Afterwards, the power plant will be turned over to SOCOTECO II as part of the Build, Operate Transfer (BOT) scheme adopted by the two companies. 

Mayor Rivera projects that this will be a long-term solution to address the power concerns of GenSan.

Aside from that, Mayor Rivera divulged that he is eyeing to put solar power plants somewhere in Barangay Bawing.

He reported that together with Councilor Dominador Lagare III, he had already prior engagements with solar power plant contractors from Manila.

“We need as much power as we can get to boost the development of the city. Clean and renewable power source is a good venue as new power source,” Mayor Rivera said. (GENSAN CPIO/Ian John M. Lagare)