Power interconnection suffers snag
Nothing is definite yet as regards the planned interconnection of the city's sole power distributor with the National Power Corporation (NPC).
National Transmission Corporation (Transco) and Panay Electric Company (Peco) have yet to finalize the Transmission Supply Agreement (TSA) which could pave way for the latter to source some of its power needs from NPC.
City Mayor Jerry Treñas, however, is optimistic that the interconnection will be made the soonest possible time.
He said, Peco needs alternative source as its present power source Mirant-Panay Power Corporation is not dependable.
Transco President Arthur Aguilar was in the city last week to check on the progress of the planned interconnection.
Treñas said Aguilar told him that there are still "two technical issues" that should be threshed out before the interconnection could commence. He, did not elaborate more on the said technical issues.
Peco needs to sign a TSA with Transco for the installation of transmission lines before they can avail of low cost power from the NPC. Once the TSA is formalized between Transco and Peco, the latter will then sign another contract, the Power Supply Agreement (PSA), with the NPC. Earlier, NPC reported that it will sell power to PECO at P3.09 per kilowatt hour. It is much lower compared with the selling price of the Mirant-PPC.
Treñas said he was briefed by Aguilar on the availability of power supply from the Cebu-Negros-Panay grid. There is an available power of 15 megawatts from the grid and another 16 megawatts from Power Barge 101 in Loboc.
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.
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 last May 3, 2007.
The chief executive wants to resolve the issues regarding the power supply of Iloilo City as soon as possible. The lack of enough power supply and constant brownout will shun away prospective investors, Treñas said.