Alsons Sarangani diesel plant offers ancillary services to NGCP
To Stabilize power grid in South-Central Mindanao
The Alsons Power Group recently tendered a proposal for the group’s diesel plant in Sarangani to provide ancillary services to the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) in order to help stabilize the power grid in Region 12 or South-Central Mindanao.
Under the proposed ancillary services procurement agreement (ASPA), NGCP will receive up to 55 megawatts (MW) of electricity from Alsons Power’s Southern Philippines Power Corp. (SPPC) diesel power plant in Alabel, Sarangani.
Through ancillary services, power generators help ensure the stability of portions of the power grid by reserving and allocating generating capacity that can be dispatched immediately by NGCP in case there are systems imbalances due to tripping of some generating units in the grid or lack of capacity in a particular area of the grid.
Earlier, NGCP and Alsons Power’s Western Mindanao Power Corp. (WMPC) signed an ASPA for WMPC’s 100-MW diesel plant in Zamboanga City to provide NGCP with dispatchable generating capacity, reactive power support, and black start capability in order to stabilize the power grid in the Zamboanga Peninsula (Western Mindanao/Region 9). The WMPC/NGCP ancillary services agreement is currently awaiting approval of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).
Alsons Power vice president Edgar D. Sevilles, who heads diesel operations noted that under an exclusive energy conversion agreement (ECA) with the National Power Corp. (NPC), the SPPC and WMPC diesel plants had long been providing the needed capacity for the Mindanao Grid during the period when the island was experiencing a power shortage. Under the ECA, the two Alsons diesel plants likewise ensured the stability of the grid by providing ancillary services.
“Though our ECA with NPC has ended, the grids in the Zamboanga Peninsula and South-Central Mindanao still need to be assured of the continuous flow of the right quality of electricity and this is why we have offered the ancillary services of our diesel plants in Zamboanga City and Alabel, Sarangani to NGCP,” he said.
Alsons Power, Mindanao’s first and most experienced independent power producer, currently operates four power facilities in Mindanao. Aside from the WMPC and SPPC plants, the group also runs the 103-MW Mapalad Power Corp. diesel plant in Iligan City and the first 105 MW section of the 210 MW Sarangani Energy Corp. (SEC) baseload coal-fired power plant in Maasim, Sarangani. The SEC plant’s second 105 MW section is due to begin commercial operations in the first quarter of 2019.
Other projects that Alsons Power has lined up for the next few years are the 15.1 MW Siguil River Hydro power plant in Sarangani Province that is targeting to commence operating in 2021 and the 105 MW San Ramon Power, Inc. (SRPI) baseload coal-fired power plant in Zamboanga City slated to begin operating in 2022.