Clark Electric, 1590 Energy seek to supply power to Clark locators

MANILA, Philippines - The sole electric distribution company in the Clark Special Economic Zone in Pampanga and 1590 Energy Corp. have jointly sought regulatory approval for a power supply deal that will guarantee continued supply to locators in the economic zone while the 1,200-megawatt (MW) Sual coal-fired power plant is out on scheduled maintenance.

Clark Electric Distribution Corp. (CEDC) and 1590 Energy executed an interim power supply agreement (IPSA) for 30 megawatts (MW) and associated energy output from the latter’s power plant from Aug. 8 to Sept. 6, 2015.

Under the IPSA, the estimated contract price for the said dates would be P7.80 per kilowatt-hour.

Currently, CEDC sources its electricity requirements from the Sual coal-fired thermal power plant managed and controlled by San Miguel Electric Corp. (SMEC).

The plant went on scheduled outage from Aug. 8  to Sept. 6, 2015.

In the joint application, CEDC said will generate savings from the interim bilateral supply agreement and mitigate exposure to the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM), the country’s trading floor for electricity.

“For the duration of the IPSA, the simulated delivered price would result in cost savings in the generation rate of about P1.17/kwh compared with the June 2015 WESM price during peak periods of P8.97/kwh,” it said.

Customers of CEDC, a unit of Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), are mostly industrial locators.

The operations of the locators are “heavily dependent on sufficient and steady supply of electricity at stable rates,” the distribution company said, thus the need for the IPSA.

Meanwhile, 1590 Energy is an independent power producer (IPP) administrator of the 215-MW bunker oil-fired diesel engine power plant located in Bauang, La Union.