LGU presses rehab of Tiwi geothermal power plant

The local government of Tiwi, Albay is urging the National Power Corp. (Napocor) to speed up discussions on the full rehabilitation of the Tiwi geothermal power plant.

Tiwi Mayor Patricia Gutierrez, in an interview with reporters over the weekend, said the economy of the municipality has been suffering due to the deterioration of the power plant.

The town of Tiwi derives some 47 percent of its total revenues from its share of one percent from the sales of the power plant. From this share, the municipal government used to subsidize up to 80 percent of the electricity bills of the town’s residents.

However, since December last year, the share has been temporarily scrapped due to low performance of the plant. The geothermal plant, which has an installed capacity of 330 megawatts (MW), currently generates a mere 38 MW.

Gutierrez, a former Napocor official, said the power plant needs rehabilitation to be able to run at its installed capacity of more than 300 MW.

Rene Santiago, manager of the Genco 6 of Napocor which handles the plant, said the state-owned power firm is doing its best to fast-track the rehabilitation.

"We need to rehabilitate it. We cannot sell this plant under its present condition," Santiago said. Napocor’s asset will be privatized under the new power reform bill passed in June last year.

Santiago said they are negotiating with Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) for the release of some P2.3 billion for the full rehabilitation of the plant which is expected to start next month and to be completed not later than December 2003.

He said representatives of JBIC and some of the contractors for the rehabilitation such as Toshiba, Mitsubishi and West Jec, visited Tiwi recently to assess the condition of the geothermal facility.