ERC approves PSA to address Mindoro brownouts
By Myrna M. Velasco – May 30, 2022, 3:54 PM
from Manila Bulletin
The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has provisionally approved a power supply agreement (PSA) that can augment electricity supply intended to end the lingering power interruptions in Occidental Mindoro.
In a statement to the media, the ERC qualified that it had given interim go-signal to the PSA between Occidental Mindoro Electric Cooperative Inc. (OMECO) and the Occidental Mindoro Consolidated Power Corporation (OMCPC) “with the aim of addressing the current rotational outages” that are primarily affecting consumers in the towns of Abra de Ilog, Maburao, Paluan and Santa Cruz.
According to the ERC, “the insufficient power supply in the province has resulted in rotating brownouts of as much as 5-6 hours per day.”
The regulatory body emphasized that the provisional authority in the supply deal “will readily address the power supply shortage,” because that will boost power capacity in Occidental Mindoro by additional 7.0 megawatts.
ERC Chairperson Agnes T. Devanadera explained that with the approval, “the parties can now implement the PSA which will provide the much-needed additional power supply to OMECO, and will greatly help alleviate the power shortage within its franchise area.”
OMECO is the power distributor that has been catering to the electricity service needs of consumers in Occidental Mindoro.
And since the province is on an “off grid mode’ or is not physically connected to the major power grid of Luzon, a power generation facility sited within the province has to be installed to address the power requirements of the end-users in the island.
“The province of Occidental Mindoro has been experiencing rotational power outages due to significant shortage in the available power supply,” the ERC stressed.
As stated by the Commission, the current power demand of the province stands at roughly 27 megawatts – and so far, only 20MW is being provided by its lone power supplier OMCPC – and that is being delivered from a bunker-fired diesel power facility that is sited in San Jose, which is in the southern part of the province.
The industry regulator expounded that OMECO used to source at least 4.0MW of its power supply from state-run National Power Corporation, but since their PSA already expired last year, the Mindoro power utility needed a new power contract to plug the gap on its required electricity supply portfolio.
Devanadera thus noted that the additional power supply from the OMCPC plant, OMECO “will be able to cover the power requirements…and will help address the supply shortage in the area.”
