Power Barge 101 now ready to augment city's power needs
NPA's Power Brage 101 and Power Barge 102
moored in Barrio Obrero, La Paz.
A. Chris Fernandez photo
The 32-megawatt Power Barge (PB) 101 is now ready to augment the power needs of the city. A ceremonial switch-on of the said power barge was held yesterday at the National Power Corporation (NPC) in Barrio Obrero, La Paz district.
Panay Electric Company (Peco) is eyeing to get some of its power requirements from PB 101 after Panay Power Corporation (PPC) incurred some failures in providing reliable power supply.
Peco is about to enter into an agreement with the NPC regarding the planned interconnection. The agreement should have been inked yesterday but it was deferred because a member of the Cacho family, majority owners of Peco, died.
Yesterday's ceremonial switch-on of PB 101 was led by NPC President Cyril del Callar and other top officials of NPC and the National Transmission Commission (Transco).
PB 101 is now moored in Bo. Obrero, La Paz beside Power Barge 102. Yesterday was the silver anniversary of PB 101 and 102.
PB 101 can connect and supply power to the Cebu-Negros-Panay grid within five days to beef up the dependable capacities in Panay. The barge's four units can generate as much as 24 megawatts. PB 101 arrived in Iloilo City last March 17, 2007 after it was used for the ASEAN Summit in Cebu last January.
Del Callar said they will be selling power to Peco at P3.09 per kilowatt hour or much lower than that of the PPC.
Both Peco and NPC have agreed in principle relative to the power supply agreement, Del Callar said. The signing of the contract was temporarily deferred because a pillar of the Cacho family, Jose Ma. E. Cacho passed away.
Initially, the contract will last for three years. Del Callar assured PB 101 will stay in Iloilo as long as it is needed.
He, however, said that Iloilo City should not only depend on the power barge but should look forward to having a new power provider or utilities especially a coal fired powered plant to address the power needs of Iloilo City.
The transfer of PB 101 from Cebu to the city was worked out by Mayor Jerry Treñas and Representative Raul Gonzalez Jr. The chief executive was not around for the ceremonial switch-on since he was called by President Arroyo in Manila.