Alcantara Group launches 200-MW Sarangani power plant

MAASIM, Sarangani – Business and political leaders in Mindanao led by Sarangani Rep. Manny Pacquiao were given assurance here yesterday by a key emissary of President Aquino that the open access policy would help solve the power supply crisis that threatens the country’s economy, especially Mindanao, starting 2014.

Trade and Industry Secretary Gregorio Domingo, gracing the groundbreaking ceremony for the 200-megawatt coal-fired thermal power plant being built by the Sarangani Energy Corp. (SEC), a subsidiary of the Alcantara Group of Companies, admitted that Mindanao’s future is slowed down by the inability of existing power plants to supply all the electricity that its growing population and expanding economy needs.

“The severe lack of power is the main problem of business in the Philippines now,” Domingo said.

“We in the government are happy that the Alcantara Group has responded with this investment in power generation. This is the start of the solution to the power supply problem,” he added.

Domingo said an amendment to the EPIRA Law which allows power users to choose the source of their electricity would encourage independent power producers to come in and put up new power plants that could stop the severe shortage forecast for Luzon and Mindanao.

Based on the DTI’s assessment, the new power plants could supply up to additional 1,000 megawatts in Mindanao alone by 2015.

But consumers would have to accept that most of these new power plants would have to use clean coal as energy source, instead of green energy, Domingo said.

“Renewable energy like solar and wind is clean and good, but I don’t think our consumers are ready for the high cost of electricity they (renewable energy sources) would impose on them,” he said.

According to the Department of Energy, power supply will have a shortfall of 600 megawatts in Mindanao starting 2014 and 1,200 MW in Luzon starting 2015, triggering fears of a repeat of the daily blackouts that victimized the country in the last years of the administration of Aquino’s mother, former President Corazon Aquino.

The Alcantara Group’s power plant is one of several slated to be built by various private sector groups in response to a looming power shortage in Mindanao by the year 2014.

Once it is able to assume full capacity of 200 MW, the Sarangani Energy coal-fired thermal power plant will be able to cover one-third of the island’s power deficit projected to reach 600 MW in 2014.

The plant’s first phase with a capacity of 100 MW is expected to be operational by the middle of 2014 while the second phase is slated to come on-line by the end of 2014. 

The plant will initially benefit over one million people residing in General Santos City, Sarangani and a few neighboring municipalities in South Cotabato through a power sales agreement with the South Cotabato II Electric Cooperative. 

It is expected that other areas in Southern Mindanao will also benefit from the SEC plant’s operation. 

In his remarks during the ceremony, SEC and Alcantara Group chairman and president Tomas Alcantara said the groundbreaking for the new power plant highlighted the Alcantara Group’s commitment to produce safe, reliable, and affordable energy for Mindanao while preserving its ecosystem.

Alcantara said his family has been living and doing business in Sarangani and the Socsargen area for nearly 50 years.

“As what we did in Alabel and other parts of Sarangani 50 years ago, we in the group come to you as your neighbors. We all would like to see our community thrive and prosper. As your neighbors we will ensure that the future we face will not only be progressive but safe as well,” Alcantara told local residents who attended the ceremonies.

The Alcantara Group currently operates two diesel power plants in Zamboanga City and Alabel, Sarangani.

The group also plans to construct and operate a 100-MW clean coal technology power plant in Zamboanga City.

Aside from power generation and power plant management, the group is engaged in aquaculture and agribusiness, property development, and services.

Guests planted the first batch out of around 42,000 seedlings that will form part of the Sarangani Energy Corp. tree nursery and forest initially targeted to encompass at least 300 hectares that will provide forest cover, protection to the nearby watershed, and livelihood for 300 families residing within the plant’s vicinity.

The ceremony also included a presentation of fish fry from the Alcantara Group’s Finfish Hatcheries to be released in a fish sanctuary near the plant.

The Sarangani Energy Corp. is a subsidiary of Alsons Consolidated Resources, the Alcantara Group’s publicly listed holding company.

The Alcantara Group has been an active player in the economic development of Mindanao and the rest of the Philippines for over 50 years.