BY EUGENE Y. ADIONG
BACOLOD City – An electric cooperative executive in Negros Occidental is upbeat that the establishment of more power pants in the province would result to the lowering of electricity rates.
Lawyer Dan Pondevilla, acting general manager of the Manapla-based Victorias-Manapla-Cadiz Rural Electric Service Cooperative Inc. (VRESCO), told Panay News that the inauguration of the 22-megawatt solar power plant of San Carlos Solar Energy Inc. on Thursday in San Carlos City would help stabilize the power supply in Negros Island.
VRESCO’s franchise area covers northern Negros.
After super typhoon “Yolanda” struck November last year, Pondevilla said they implemented load-shedding because VRESCO’s power source in Leyte went down.
Pondevilla said the solar power plant will also help VRESCO save more than a million pesos in terms of line rentals.
“Right now, VRESCO pays millions to the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) in line rentals,” he revealed but without giving figures.
With the solar farm in San Carlos City, Pondevilla said, VRESCO no longer have to pay for line rentals to WESM.
This, in turn, will reduce power generation and lower power rates, Pondevilla said.
Negros Occidental’s Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. said he is happy that Negros now has its own power plant.
It is important that power is produced locally, he stressed, because submarine cables transmitting power to the province from Cebu and Iloilo will soon exceed their carrying capacity.
Only the 13-megawatt first phase of the $45-million San Carlos City solar farm was inaugurated last week.
The second phase of the project consists of a nine-megawatt facility.
Once complete, solar farm is expected to supply 35-million kilowatt hour of energy to the Visayas grid and to cover mainly the power needs of Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, Cebu, and Iloilo.
The power plant is also expected to displace the equivalent of 14,805 tons of carbon emissions per year./PN
