Aboitiz unit provides two power barges for Mindanao

MANILA, Philippines - Power barge operator Therma Marine, a subsidiary of AboitizPower, said its two power plants in Mindanao are now running on a 24-hours basis to augment the thinning power supply in the island.

Therma Marine chief operating officer Jovy Batiquin said that despite being a peaking plant -- which is supposed to provide back-up and ancillary power to the grid – the company has become a major source of power for electric cooperatives.

“With no other capacity left to help the electric cooperatives, we are now running almost like a baseload power plant,” Batiquin said.

Therma Marine produces 200 megawatts from its power barges in Nasipit, Agusan del Norte and Maco, Compostela Valley provinces.

These power barges supply power to 23 electric cooperatives and distribution utilities, to complement supply coming from state-owned National Power Corp. (Napocor).

Napocor supplies majority of the power supply to all the power cooperatives and utilities in Mindanao. This supply, however, is not enough to meet growing demand in Mindanao.

As such, cooperatives in the island are also relying on Therma Marine to lessen the power curtailments and shorten the blackouts in some areas.

“Unfortunately, Therma Marine is already fully-contracted and we could no longer produce more and supply more power to electric cooperatives despite many requests for additional capacity,” Batiquin said.

The extended running hours, poses a challenge to the company especially in terms of manpower as well as on maintenance and spare parts, Batiquin said.

He said this trend is likely to continue until major power plants come in by 2015.

In terms of electricity cost, Therma Marine said 90 percent of its rate is on fuel, which is a pass-through rate.

“The remaining 10 percent goes to us for salaries, maintenance, spare parts and capital recovery,” he said.

With the summer months expected to affect the water levels in Lake Lanao and the power output of the Agus-Pulangi complex, Therma Marine expects  “challenging times” to continue for the rest of the year.

AboitizPower is the holding company for the Aboitiz Group’s power generation, distribution, retail and power services business.

It has hydroelectric and geothermal assets in its generation portfolio and also has fossil-fired power plants located across the country.