4th district site pushed for power plant

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu 4th District Rep. Benhur Salimbangon has offered his district as the site for a Korea Southern Power Co., Ltd. (KOSPO) power plant in Cebu’s north.

Officials of KOSPO, a subsidiary of the Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) which set up the Kepco-Salcon Power Corp. Power Plant in Naga, Cebu, visited Governor Gwendolyn Garcia last week to express interest in putting up another power plant here.

After the meeting, Salimbangon who was in attendance, invited KOSPO officials to visit his district in their search for the site of their power plant.

Salimbangon said that he first offered Bantayan Island but KOSPO officials declined because they need at least 100 hectares and they are interested in areas either in Medellin or Daanbantayan.

KOSPO is set to send its technical people soon to conduct a thorough inspection of the area before its officials finally decide in Korea.

During the meeting Garcia told the visiting Korean businessmen that there are already two power plants ready for completion within this year which would give an added capacity of 446 megawatts.

The additional power supply would come from KSPC and the Cebu Energy Development Corp.

Garcia said the additional power was initially projected to be enough for the next 10 years but at the rate Cebu is developing, power requirement alone rises at an average of 12 to 14 percent year after year. This additional capacity of 446MW might only be good for the next three to four years.

Salimbangon offered a considerable area in the fourth district ideal for the power plant with a nearby port ready for the delivery of needed construction materials.

Salimbangon said the benefits of having power plants in the north include employment and economic development, other micro-businesses and support services will also improve.

Meanwhile, the Cebu City Council wants a power conservation plan for all city government offices which will identify ways and means to minimize the electricity consumption.

The council asked the General Services Offices to facilitate the creation of the conservation plan and present it to the council before the last week of next month.

This came up after the rotating blackouts experienced in Metro Cebu last year due to the limited power supply.

The power shortage is being caused by the growing population and industries. The shortage was, however, augmented by new power plants that started to operate in Cebu.

“Power supply is crucial in ensuring the day-to-day operations of business, industries, schools, offices and homes. There is a need to think of ways and measures especially long-term and environment-friendly solutions for a sustainable power supply for Cebu City,” the council resolution read.

“The city government, being a major consumer, must think of ways to contribute to alleviating the power supply problem of the city especially in adopting measures to ensure a stable and sustainable power supply,” it added.

For 2010, the city paid a total of P122,100,000.00 last year compared to P106,167,171.90 in 2009.

GSO head Rolando Ardosa said that this might increase to P130 million this year considering the looming increase in the rate to be charged by distribution utility.

Roughly 80 percent of the total bill that the city pays yearly is attributed to the city’s streetlights. The city has some 20,000 streetlights paid at a flat rate of P8 million a month.

Aside from the city street lights, there are the SRP street lights at P3.3 million a year and the city’s regular accounts and demands accounts at P23 million a year.

The average monthly electricity expense of the city is P10.175 million.   (FREEMAN NEWS)