Southern Energy seeks buyers for excess electricity

Southern Energy Philippines Inc. (SEPI) is looking for possible users of the excess power generated by its Sual coal-fired power plant in Pangasinan.

The plant has a maximum capacity of 1,200 MW and its only customer thus far is the National Power Corp. (Napocor) which is buying 1,000 megawatts under a power purchase agreement (PPA).

SEPI officials said they will give priority to export processing zones, industrial parks, huge manufacturing plants and the like.

Sometime last year, the Sual power plant grabbed the headlines when the entire Luzon was sent to darkness as it broke down due to a "jellyfish invasion." The jellyfish got clogged in the plant’s cooling system, which was the main cause of the breakdown and the subsequent blackout.

Meanwhile, SEPI has just made operational two power plants in Oriental Mindoro equivalent to 9.5 megawatts. The two plants form part of the efforts of the Department of Energy (DOE) to bring electricity to off-grid areas like Mindoro, with the help of the private sector.

The two power plants are contracted by local utility Oriental Mindoro Electric Cooperative (Ormeco) to partly supply the electricity requirements of the province under a build-operate-own (BOO) scheme," the DOE pointed out in a press statement.

SEPI also plans to rehabilitate and expand next year the existing Calapan diesel power plant of Napocor in order to install sufficient capacity that will allow the company to exclusively supply the entire electricity requirements of the Oriental Mindoro for the next 20 years.

The energy department is also looking for opportunities to develop new and renewable energy sources (NREs) for the island of Mindoro since it is not attached to the national grid.

A study conducted by the US DOE has identified the island of Mindoro and one of its southern islands as having one of the highest potentials for wind sourced electricity. Other sources being developed are solar, bio-mass and agri-waste.

Aside from Sual, SEPI also operates the 735-MW Pagbilao Power Station in Quezon, the 210-MW Navotas I, the 100-MW Navotas II, and the 15-MW SDC Power Station in San Ildefonso, Bulacan.