Napocor fasttracks repair of Palinpinon geothermal plant

The state-owned National Power Corp. (Napocor) has stepped up the repair of the Palinpinon geothermal power plant in Negros Oriental to beef up the reserves of the Visayas grid by at least 30 megawatts (MW).

According to Palinpinon I plant manager Rodolfo C. Pacana, they had completed the repair of the plant’s turbine generator six days ahead the target date of May 10.

"Unit 3 was successfully synchronized to the system at 9:30 p.m. of May 4, after the installation, testing and commissioning of the newly-repaired generator rotor," Pacana said.

In a report, Pacana said with Unit 3 back on-line, Palinpinon I will be able to produce an additional capacity of 37.5 MW.

Located in Valencia, Negros Oriental, the 112.5-MW Palinpinon I consists of three units with a rated capacity of 37.5 MW each.

The rehabilitation of Unit 3 started in July last year, with the rotor generator shipped to Kawasaki, Japan in December for repair by suppliers Fuji and Kanematsu Corp. The repaired equipment was finally delivered last April 28, after a two-week shipment delay.

The fast-tracking of the repair was the latest accomplishment in Napocor’s over-all efforts to avert a possible power shortage in the Cebu-Negros-Panay grid.

In March this year, the state-owned power firm broke ground for the P629-million Dingle diesel power plant II in Iloilo, and installed a 10-MW modular-type diesel generator at the Panitan substation in Capiz, Panay.

Last week, Napocor deployed the 32-MW Power Barge 102 to Barrio Obrero, Iloilo City to reinforce the CNP grid’s available reserves.

Based on Napocor’s estimates, the CNP grid will have an additional dependable capacity of 84 MW by June, and 134 MW by December once all of the immediate and short-term projects for the grid are completed.

All eight diesel generator sets of the Dingle II power project are expected to be operational by end-December, making available an additional 110 MW to the grid.