NEA eyes financial assistance to Mindanao power co-ops

MANILA, Philippines - The National Electrification Administration (NEA), the state-owned agency mandated to oversee the reliability of electric cooperatives (ECs) in the country, is eyeing to extend financial assistance to ECs in Mindanao to help them build small diesel-fired plants to augment the current power shortage.

In an interview, Edgardo Piamonte, NEA deputy administrator for electric distribution utilities, said the loan intends to help cooperatives fund the construction of two-to-five megawatt (MW) small diesel-fired power plants.

“There is a shortage of power in Mindanao. It won’t be solved immediately. This (project) will help mitigate the load curtailment,” Piamonte said.

At present, he said some parts of Mindanao are experiencing two-to-three hour blackouts because of the power shortage in the region.

Piamonte said there are about 26 ECs that can benefit from the financial assistance. Each cooperative would need at least two small diesel-fired plants, the NEA official also said.

“One cooperative would need at least two megawatts in additional supply,” Piamonte said.

NEA would source the funds from its budgetary allocation although Piamonte said NEA still has to source the amount.

The agency intends to start implementing the financial assistance project within the year.

Mindanao-based electric cooperatives source part of their power requirements from the Angus-Pulangi hydropower plant but this is not enough.

The Department of Energy has said that the Mindanao grid would need additional 38 MW this year.

NEA has been trying to help electric cooperatives improve their financial viability.

It has tapped the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to address the system loss concerns of some of these cooperatives.

System loss refers to the total amount of electric energy losses from electric power generation to distribution. The project particularly focused on mitigating system losses from the electric power distribution activities of the ECs.

The partnership is aimed at helping ECs cut their system losses further. The current system loss-level is within the cap of 13 percent as set by the Energy Regulatory Commission, the power sector regulator.