When it rains it pours.

More power will be available for sale to power cooperatives in Negros Occidental by 2016, Gil Altamira, Panay Energy Development Corp. senior manager for commercial operations, said yesterday.

PEDC's P20 billion 150 megawatt clean coal-fired power plant is scheduled to begin operations in June 2016 to meet the growing power demands of Negros and Panay, he said.

It will sell its power at a competitive rate of P5.05 per kilowatt hour, he added.

“We are confident the additional investment of PEDC will further fuel economic growth in Western Visayas,” Altamira said.

There will be no power shortage in the region, there is adequate supply available to meet growing investments in the region, he said.

PEDC's two existing coal-fired power plants in Barangay Ingore, La Paz, Iloilo City, already produces 164 megawatts.

The Panay Guimaras Power Supply Consortium and PEDC are set to sign a Electric Power Purchase Agreement for electricity produced by the new plant at the Boracay Regency in Boracay Island on April 11, he said.

PEDC coal plants 1 and 2 supply 60 percent of Panay's power needs and the rest of its power is sold to the Visayas grid, Altamira said.

PEDC has standing offers to supply power to Negros power cooperatives, he also said.

Also expected to produce 135 megawatts of power by next year is the coal-fired power plant of Palm Concepcion Power Corp. in Concepcion, Iloilo.

In Bacolod on Monday, Ceasar Ibañez Lao-as, president and chief executive officer of Asia Pacific Energy Ventures Inc., announced that the P15.5 billion North Negros Energy Power Corp. geothermal plant in Barangay Banquerohan, Cadiz City, will be producing 150 megawatts by early 2018, with the capacity to expand to 300 megawatts.

Cadiz Mayor Patrick Escalante said that, aside from the coal-fired power plant, his city will also play host to a 100 megawatts solar power farm to be built by Soleq Holdings, a multinational firm, on 150 hectares in Hacienda Paz, Barangay Tinampaan, that will be operational this year, and a 130-megawatt wind power plant in barangays Cadiz Viejo, Luna and Burgos that will be completed in two years.

Solar power farms are also expected to rise in Bacolod City and Murcia town.

Frank Carbon, president of the Metro Bacolod Power Corp, yesterday said they welcome the entry of the coal plant in the province as it will be able to supply baseload power 24-7.

He said diesel and blended fuel plants will also be needed to meet peak loads.*CPG

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