Napocor explains need to repair Kalayaan Unit 2

The Luzon grid's stability will benefit from the improved reliability of the 150-megawatt Unit 2 of the Kalayaan power plant once repairs and upgrading are completed in August of this year. Kalayaan is the largest among the power plants belonging to the Caliraya-Botocan-Kalayaan (CBK) system in Laguna, which is slated for repairs and rehabilitation under a contract with IMPSA.

CBK plant manager Rogelio Lomague led reporters on a visit to the plant last Saturday, accompanied by Napocor's South Luzon vice-president Antonio Corpuz and engineers working on Unit 2's rehabilitation.

Napocor officials had earlier clarified that Unit 2 had not yet been turned over to IMPSA, but the company had been given the go-ahead to repair the unit based on a clause of the BROT agreement, which referred to any interim damage to the plant.

The decision was made after several months of tests conducted by both IMPSA and Napocor, which revealed that the unit's transformer was in imminent danger of failing, based on International Electrical Electronics Engineering (IEEE) standards. The results of the tests indicated that the unit should be taken out of service and repaired or replaced. According to the engineers at the plant, a failure in the transformer can result in extensive damage to the generator of Kalayaan's unit 2.

The examinations conducted on Unit 2 after the shutdown of Feb. 8 confirmed that the decision was correct. The overheating inside the transformer was due to the deterioration and burning of the tap changers -- the inspections demonstrated that a short circuit was about to happen. This would have entailed a 16-month outage for the plant, and much more in terms of time and resources if the generator were affected.

The transfer of the CBK plant has been delayed because the project lenders require that all the documentation be in order. Napocor has to provide evidence of its clean title over 250 separate parcels containing the CBK complex. Napocor is also waiting for an entry of judgment from the court in one case where a person claims to own the land on which the Caliraya plant stands.

IMPSA officials also clarified that the repairs were being done at no charge to Napocor and that all the risks and costs of rehabilitation were being shouldered by IMPSA. They agreed to work on Unit 2 at their own expense so that they could stay within their rehabilitation schedule despite delays in the turnover and so as not to disrupt Napocor's Power Development Program, which contemplates completion of all plants by the second half of 2002.