By Lorenz S. Marasigan
PALM Concepcion Power Corp. (PCPC), a unit of listed A Brown Co. Inc. (ABCI), reported on Monday that two of its power lines in Iloilo are now energized.
These are the 138-kilovolt (kV) Concepcion-Barotac Transmission Line, and the 138-kV Concepcion Gas Insulated Switchgear (GIS) substation in Iloilo. The Barotac Viejo Substation expansion is now operational as well.
PCPC President and CEO Roel Z. Castro said the fast completion of the transmission lines is the early settlement of the right-of-way.
“We made sure that all those affected by the construction of the transmission facilities were compensated accordingly and that all documentary requirements are in place for the proper turn-over of these transmission assets to NGCP,” he said, referring to the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines.
The company’s power plant will be synchronized with the Visayas grid by last week of April 2016, and will be delivering power supply to its customers in Panay, Negros and the rest of the Visayas.
The firm is scheduled to have its reliability tests run in the next couple of months. Once this is completed, the first unit of the 2X135-megawatt (MW) plant will be up for full commercial operations.
“The schedule of the commercial operations is just right on track as what we have committed to our customers,” said Winifredo Pangilinan, senior vice president for Project Development Group.
Ten distribution utilities and electric cooperatives have signed up with PCPC for their baseload power-capacity requirements. They also need to deliver reliable and stable power generation supply to their individual customers including industrial, commercial and residential consumers.
PCPC is a joint venture of Palm Thermal Consolidated Holdings Corp. and Jin Navitas Resource Inc.
Palm Thermal is a subsidiary of ABCI, a listed company primarily engaged in real estate and agribusiness. It has ventured into the utilities and energy industry in recent years.
ABCI’s other subsidiaries are Hydrolink, which recently signed a hydropower-service contract with the Department of Energy; and Peakpower Energy Inc., owner of bunker-fired power plants in Mindanao for the peaking power-supply requirements in the area.