Committing to Energy Secretary Angelo T. Reyes that “brownouts will never happen again” on account of scant coal supply, San Miguel Energy Corporation (SMEC) has committed six panamax coal deliveries to the 1,200-megawatt Sual coal-fired power facility in the next two months.

SMEC is the independent power producer administrator (IPPA) of the Sual facility, which also takes the function of ensuring sufficient coal supply to meet dispatch commitments from the plant.

SMEC general manager Rafael Bueno Jr. told the energy chief that four panamax coal shipments are due this February; and another 2 shipments are scheduled in March.

Bueno indicated that the first batch of the shipments “will arrive first week of February,” and he came assuring that the next deliveries will already comply with the specifications so these won’t go through another round of rejection by IPP operator TeaM Energy. One panamax is equivalent to 60,000 to 80,000 deadweight metric tons (DWT) of coal.

SMEC was forthright enough in admitting that the previous shipment made by contracted supplier Philippine National Oil Company-Exploration Corporation (PNOC-EC) has been rejected by the plant operator, on account that these are “under-specs” and their utilization may trigger damage in the plant.

Reyes is counting on SMEC’s commitment of “expeditious coal delivery” to prevent recurrence of the rolling brownouts that plunged large parts of Luzon grid into darkness last January 25.

For the Sual plant, a panamax of 65,000 tons is estimated to last for about two weeks; which may entail that the scheduled shipments will satiate its requirements for the next three months.

The contracted capacity of the Sual plant has been privatized via the appointment of an IPPA. Part of the mandate passed on to the latter would be on fuel procurement.

The fuel procurement shift to the IPPAs was hinged on the fact that state-run National Power Corporation (NPC) was always faulted before for not “being efficient enough” in securing coal supply for the plants.

But just when the industry thought that such dilemma was already a thing of the past, Sual under the care of an IPPA was pointed to as the main cause of the power outages. Apart from the tripping of one unit, the more appalling discovery was the lack of coal supply that warranted shutdown of its other unit.

Because of the incident, the technical capabilities of the appointed IPPAs were also placed under extreme scrutiny, that the energy chief directed asset-seller Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation (PSALM) to ensure the operational capability of the new plant owners or the administrators of the facilities’ contracted capacities.