The Philippines’ Department of Energy (DoE) is to offer loans allowing electric cooperatives in Mindanao to acquire gensets to help offset the impact of the prolonged daily rotating brownouts.
Mindanao, the Philippines’ needs an estimated 1,300 MW of power capacity to meet demand. Current capacity is just 309 MW, according to National Grid Corp. of the Philippines.
Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla said the DoE will provide the funds to the National Electrification Administration (NEA) “which will then offer them to the electric cooperatives by way of (soft) loans.” Petilla added the loan will be based on the need and capacity of the generator units that will be acquired by the electric cooperative.
Petilla said the DoE is presently talking with five suppliers of gensets for the possible link-up with the electric cooperatives. Citing their initial discussions with executives of Monark Equipment Corp., the sole authorized dealer of Caterpillar generators in the country, Petilla said the monthly lease or rental fee may reach P1.4 million per MW of the generator set.
He said the projected monthly interest payment for the loan may reach around P150,000 ($3,700) per megawatt of the acquired gensets. Based on their estimates, he said consumers will have to pay an additional P3 per kilowatt-hour for eight hours of average daily use.