Napocor averts power shortage in Luzon by diverting coal shipments
Monday, October 25 2004 - 06:49 PM WIB
Napocor corporate communications manager Dennis Gana thanked QPPL?s cooperation in allowing the arrival of one panamax shipment of coal from Indonesia last October 20, 2004 intended for QPPL to be delivered instead to SCFTPP.
Gana said the shipment was a "lifesaver of sorts" for the SCFTPP, which was expecting a delivery of its regular supply of Chinese coal from its supplier Shanxi-Datong, but did not materialize.
"It was an immediate and quick response to what could have been a very critical situation. We would like to thank QPPL, and its General Manager, Mr. Frank Thiel for allowing the delivery of their shipment to Sual. Likewise, we would also like to thank their creditors for giving their consent to the delivery," Gana said.
"It was a perfect example of the Filipino Bayanihan spirit, where one neighbor goes to the aid of another, in order to prevent a disaster," he added.
He said the continued generation of electricity from the 1,200-MW SCFTPP has been assured with the arrival of 70,000 metric tons of Indonesian coal from PT Kaltim Prima.
According to Gana, Napocor also has an existing contract with the same supplier for the requirements of the Pagbilao Coal-Fired Thermal Power Plant, for three panamax shipments. Two shipments have already been delivered, with the last one scheduled for December this year.
PT Kaltim Prima, which also supplies the coal needs of QPPL, was requested by Napocor to advance the delivery scheduled for December. Since there was a scheduled delivery for QPPL last week, Napocor was told by the supplier to secure the consent of QPPL to instead have the shipment delivered to Sual.
Napocor will replace QPPL?s supply with the equivalent volume from Napocor?s scheduled delivery in December.
The SCFTPP is one of the major generation facilities supplying electricity in the Luzon Grid, providing baseload capacity.
Napocor has taken the responsibility of procuring fuel for the plant, as one of its contracted independent power producers (IPPs).
The 1,200-MW power plant consumes between 8,000 to 9,000 MT of coal per day. It provides some 1,000 MW of electricity to the Luzon Grid. The loss of this capacity would cause rotating brownouts in Metro Manila.(*)