The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) has assured investors here that electric power supply in this free port will be sufficient this year, even as the rest of the country may possibly face outages in summer when power demand will be at its peak.
SBMA Administrator and CEO Armand Arreza gave this assurance, citing that Subic’s power generation capacity has been boosted by the re-commissioning in late December of the 116-megawatt diesel power plant here.
“There is a lot of fear and apprehensions that within two years, the country as a whole would face energy shortage starting 2011,” Arreza said. “But as always, the SBMA has taken the necessary steps ahead of whatever problem that may disrupt the robust economy in the Subic Bay Freeport.”
“Now, with the upgraded diesel power plant, the growth of businesses here will surely remain unhampered,” Arreza added.
According to the SBMA chief, the five-year lease contract for the 10-hectare property where the Subic diesel power plant is located, was auctioned and later awarded to One Subic Power Generation Corp. (OSPGC), as the contract among the SBMA, National Power Corp. (Napocor), and former plant operator Enron Power Corp. expired in 2009.
OSPGC then entered into a Power Administration and Management Agreement with Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Development Corp. (Trans-Asia), which will be responsible for the administration and management of the entire generation output of the leased diesel power plant.
The Subic power plant was built in 1994 by the Napocor through a build-operate-transfer (BOT) contract with Enron.
OSPGC and its partners held the ceremonial start-up of the power plant in December, with Arreza as guest of honor. The event was also graced by OSPGC chief Dennis Uy, who is also president of Phoenix Petroleum Corp. of the Udenna group; OSPGC chief operating officer Jose Manuel Quimson; Trans-Asia vice president Ritz Santos; and National Grid Corp. of the Philippines chief engineer Wilson Martin.
During the start-up ceremonies, Arreza also expressed satisfaction over the partnership among the SBMA, OSPGC and Trans-Asia, saying that it would ensure that the facility “is run smoothly, profitably, but at the same time responsibly.”
OSGPC’s Uy meanwhile said the ceremonial start-up marks another milestone for the Udenna Group of Companies.
“We thank the SBMA for trusting us and awarding us the rights to operate the power plant,” Uy added. (SBMA Corporate Communications)
0 comments:
Post a Comment