Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi approved the issuance of a Certificate of Energy Project of National Significance (CEPNS) last June 21 to Mindoro Harvest Energy Corp. to expedite the construction and completion of the company’s 9.7 megawatt bunker C power project, intended to prevent power shortages and alleviate crippling brownouts in Southern Mindoro.
The Department of Energy certification would enable various government agencies to hasten the license-permit process for the urgently needed project that would serve eight growing, electricity-starved municipalities in Southern Mindoro.
CEPNS is issued in accordance with President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s Executive Order 30 of 2017 to enable the expeditious, rapid building and completion of vital infrastructure projects. The certification must be issued within 30 days after submission by applicants to any government agency, according to the President’s EO 30 and the DOE’s implementing guidelines.
Cristina Young, president of Power One Corp., the project proponent, thanked Cusi for his swift response in releasing the CEPNS for the Mindoro Harvest Energy satellite plant, after the Energy secretary learned that the power project had been stuck for four months at the DOE’s Power Bureau.
Joy Najito, Mindoro Harvest Energy project liaison, and licensing officer, said Cusi’s action resolved the impasse over the allowed installed capacity for the new power project that the DOE Power Bureau wanted to limit to 3 megawatts “and not allow the reserve and standby engines that are needed to assure the power plant’s reliability, and for which we are not charging extra capacity fees.”
“Mindoro Harvest will be paid only for energy delivered actually and used by the local cooperative under its current power supply agreement,” Najito added.
Because of the delay, the local electric cooperative Ormeco will have to continue buying the expected approximate 1.5 million kilowatt hours a month output of the Mindoro Harvest Energy plant if it operated as originally planned.
This is from a more expensive temporary power generators at an estimated higher cost and missionary subsidy to the government of P4.5 million a month or P22.5 million for the five-month hold back, Najito said.
Mindoro Harvest Energy applied for the CEPNS in January 2019 and, based on the mandate of Duterte’s EO 30, had hoped to secure it last February to enable the company to start construction in April and meet its target completion of August or September this year, Najito said.
With the CEPNS, Brian Ani, Mindoro Harvest chief project engineer, said the company hopes to secure construction permits by the end of July, start construction in August, and complete the power plant by January or February of 2020, weather permitting.
“We had hope to complete the critical civil works before the rainy season that normally starts in June,” Ani said.
The southern half of Oriental Mindoro consists of eight towns, from Socorro to the progressive town of Pinamalayan, the RoRo gateway of Roxas, and up to Bulalacao.
They have been suffering from continuous brownouts since a typhoon in December 2016 devastated the transmission lines that supply power to the south from Calapan City in the north, where most of the province’s power plants are located.
Ormeco had long wanted to protect the Southern Mindoro area from debilitating, ruinous power interruptions by building permanent power plants in its service area, which until today is being served by small power generators and engines whose power supply capability are unstable and expensive.
In addition to the 9.7mw Mindoro Harvest Power project, the Duterte government is also seeking further permanent solutions to ensure reliable, uninterrupted power supply in the future. A competitive selection process or bidding is being planned for an additional 15 to 20 Mw of power supply.
Cusi said: “As long as the coop and the consumers are paying only for 3Mw and power actually delivered and not being charged extra for the reserve engines, the 9.7Mw capacity is actually advantageous and welcome for the consumers.”