President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is asking German firm STEAG AG to consider expanding the capacity of its 210-megawatt coal plant to meet future demand in Mindanao or to build entirely new capacity in Southern Mindanao.
The Chief Exective is scheduled to lead this Monday (January 8) the commercial inauguration of the $ 305 million Mindanao coal-fired power facility that is expected to shore up the grid’s power supply by additional 16-percent.
With the power plant being set on stream, Mindanao would be able to avoid power supply shortages, which would have started latter part of last year. The plant is operated by STEAG State Power Inc. (SPI), a joint venture between STEAG Aktiengesellschaft (STEAG AG) of Germany with 89% stake and the rest is held by its local partner, State Investment Trust Inc. (SITI), one of the country’s pioneer and leading investment houses and also started negotiations with government for the project’s blueprint.
"The entry of this Mindanao coal-fired power plant is one of the crucial means in addressing the challenge of attaining stability in the supply of electricity in Mindanao," President Arroyo said.
She added the full commercial operation of the facility during the last quarter of 2006 "contributed significantly in the reliability of power supply in the Mindanao grid."
The Mindanao coal plant was completed ahead of the January 2007 schedule and was set on full commercial operation as early as November 2006.
Following the early completion of the project, Mindanao grid’s system reserve margin was reported to have increased from a critical 13.2 percent to 24.6 percent in November 2006; which is even higher than the required 21-percent reserve margin for the Mindanao grid.
Energy Secretary Raphael P.M. Lotilla emphasized the project not only contributed to increasing Mindanao’s power capacity, but has also provided array of socioeconomic benefits to its host community and local government units, in the form of jobs, electrification initiatives and other corporate social responsibility projects and paid taxes.
"The inauguration of this 210 MW Mindanao plant is a crucial energy infrastructure project for economic growth in Mindanao and we expect to have an upbeat business environment in the region," he said. (MMV)
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