04 Nov 2011
The Power Sector Assets and Liabilities and Management (PSALM) Corporation will commence the privatization of Power Barges (PB) 101, 102, 103 and 104 before the year ends.
PSALM President and Chief Executive Officer Emmanuel R. Ledesma, Jr. said that the PSALM Board has 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 occur after the power situation stabilizes in the Visayas where the power barges are currently moored.
Ledesma further stated that PSALM, in coordination with the Department of Energy, has yet to finalize the timeline and the details for the relocation. All transfer costs will be for the account of 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 (MW) barge-mounted bunker-fired diesel generating power stations that consist of four identical Hitachi-Sulzer diesel generator units rated at 8 MW each.
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.
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, these 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.
Strategic Communications and Partnership Division |