With just two more transmission line segments and one substation to complete, the National Power Corporation (NPC) is four to six years away from ensuring that the Catanduanes power grid will help realize reliable and stable supply of electricity to more than 50,000 consumers of the First Catanduanes Electric Cooperative, Inc. (FICELCO).
NPC officials said that work has started on clearing the route on which the Codon-Caramoran transmission line will pass.
Local officials present during the ceremonial inauguration of the San Miguel-Viga 69KV Transmission Line and the Viga 5MVA Substation understandably wished both projects would somehow ease the inconvenience and suffering from the almost daily brownouts this June.
But their collective wish will not be possible for now.
According to a power industry bigwig, now that NPC has more than halfway to its dream of completing the transmission lines, the third man in the ring, so to speak, has to step up on its own.
As the only power provider in the island grid, Sunwest Water & Electricity Co. (SUWECO) has to do more than just replacing or adding to its 19 diesel generators and praying for rain to add precious water to the reservoirs of its two hydroelectric power plants.
The industry player claims SUWECO needs to do two things as its part in the common desire for reliable supply of electricity.
One, it has to install a low-speed, base-load diesel or bunker-fuel power plant at its Marinawa DPP, where most of the power sources are concentrated due to the heavy demand from Virac consumers.
A power grid typically provides three types of electricity: baseload power, intermediate power, and peaking power. Baseload power is the “always on” power ensuring electricity is available whenever you flip a switch while intermediate and peaking power is the electricity called upon by grid operators to meet demand above baseload demand.
The island grid used to have a baseload plant, the 3.6-megawatt bunker-fuel generator of the defunct Catanduanes Power Generation, Inc. (CPGI) that leased it from FICELCO, which in turn rented it from NPC a decade ago. The plant was dismantled a few years ago after the NPC lease was not renewed due to the entry of the new power provider.
SUWECO needs to purchase a base-load plant, but such a big genset reportedly costs about P40 million per megawatt, much more expensive than the P15 million it would pay for a 1-mW high-speed diesel genset.
Second, the power provider will have to build a power plant in Caramoran and transfer some of the gensets there for a more balanced loading.
Whether these suggestions would be heeded by the management would depend on its revenue stream. In Catanduanes, SUWECO allegedly collects around P40 million a month for supplying electricity to the local cooperative.
*****
THE OVERSTAYING WIFE. A man on business trip entered a hotel where he intended to stay for a few nights. Before he checked in he noticed a very beautiful young woman smiling at him. Going over to make small talk, he ended up going with her to the desk, and to avoid gossip, announced that she was his wife and that they wanted to get a premium suite. After a couple of nights together, she left while he stayed over one more night. When he went to check out, he was handed a bill for $11,658.
“There must be some mistake,” he complained, “I’ve only been here for three nights.”
“That’s true,” the clerk explained, “but your wife has been here for two months.”