The Power Sector Assets and Liabilities and Management Corporation will start the privatization of Power Barges 101, 102, 103, and 104 before the year ends, a government press release said.

PSALM president and chief executive officer Emmanuel Ledesma Jr. said that the firm’s board had approved the sale of the power barges with the condition to transfer the barges to Mindanao to augment the power supply in the region.

The transfer will be done after the power situation stabilizes in the Visayas where the power barges are currently moored, the press release said. Power barges came into prominence during the heavy outages of the country in the 1980s. These helped the country provide electricity for industries and residences, the press release said.

Ledesma said that PSALM, in coordination with the Department of Energy, has yet to finalize the time line and the details for the relocation. All transfer costs will be shouldered by the winning bidder. The power barges are movable and can be relocated anywhere with adequate mooring structures.

Designed as base-load plants, PB 101, 102, 103, and 104 are nominal 32-megawatt barge-mounted bunker-fired diesel generating power stations that consist of four identical Hitachi-Sulzer diesel generator units rated at 8 MW each, the press release said.

The National Power Corporation bought the power barges from a Japanese firm, Hitachi Zosen Corporation. These barges were used to help ease a severe power shortage in the Philippines, providing the required support in the Visayas and Mindanao regions, the press release said.

Commissioned in 1981, PB 101 and PB 102 are currently moored at Bo. Obrero, Iloilo City, while PB 103 and 104, which were commissioned in 1985, are moored at Botongon, Estancia, Iloilo, and at the Holcim Compound, Ilang, Davao City, respectively. Since they began operation, the barges had been moved to various locations to meet technical requirements ― usually a power shortage ― or to provide reactive power support to improve voltage regulation at the end of very long transmission circuits, the press release added.*

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