Treñas urges business sector to lobby for transfer of PB 104
City Mayor Jerry Treñas yesterday called on the city's business sector to help lobby with the national government for the transfer of National Power Corporation's (NPC) Power Barge 104 from Davao City to augment the growing power needs of Iloilo City.
He made the same appeal to Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez.
Treñas said Power Barge 104 which has a total capacity of 28 megawatts could help address the power needs not only of Iloilo City but of the entire province in the meantime that there are no other independent power sources.
He said the transfer of the power barge is necessary as the city's power needs already reached 80 megawatts.
Treñas made the statement after his meeting with representatives from the NPC, National Transmission Corp., Panay Electric Company Inc. (Peco) and Iloilo Business Club last Monday to discuss the state of power in the city.
At present, the city is experiencing rotating brownouts due to the emergency shutdown of Cebu Thermal Power Plant 2 (CTPP-2) in the Cebu-Negros-Panay Grid and the preventive maintenance of Panay Power Corporation's (PPC) generating units.
The city's power demand went as high as 80 megawatts a day the past few days because of the hot weather condition.
Treñas is also worried of the city's power situation because of the impending entry of investors like TeleTech, Megaworld and another call center in Amigo Plaza which will add to the city's power demands.
Teletech, a call center situated in SM City needs one megawatt, Megaworld needs three megawatts and the call center in Amigo also needs one megawatt of power, said Treñas.
Under normal situations, PPC's diesel plants generate a total of 72 megawatts power for Iloilo City while NPC adds 15 megawatts to the city's power needs.