ERC Renews COC of CEPALCO
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ERC Chairperson Zenaida G. Cruz-Ducut (center) hands the renewed COC to Mr. Jose Ma. Abaya, Assistant to the Chairman of CEPALCO while Commissioners Alejandro Z. Barin (extreme left), Maria Teresa A. R. Castañeda (2nd from(left), and Jose C. Reyes (right)witness the awarding of the COC. |
The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) approved on 25 January 2010 the renewal of Certificate of Compliance (COC) applied for by Cagayan Electric Power and Light Co., Inc. (CEPALCO) for its 950 kW Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Power Plant located in Brgy. Indahag, Cagayan de Oro City. An evaluation revealed that the power plant continued to be compliant with the financial, technical, and environmental requirements stated in the ERC’s Guidelines for the Issuance of Certificate of Compliance for Generation Companies/Facilities, as Amended that includes reportorial, technical and financial requirements.
CEPALCO’s first COC for its Solar PV Power Plant Facility was granted by ERC in September 2004. The PV plant that sits on 2 hectares of land is a “fuel-less” electric generating plant since it is the light from the sun that generates the electricity. As such, the PV plant does not use any fossil fuel (e.g., diesel, gasoline, natural gas, etc.) and does not emit hazardous effluents into the rivers. The PV plant does not generate any kind of noise since there are no moving parts therein, and does not need large storage batteries to store the generated energy since the power generated by the PV plant is fed directly to the distribution system.
CEPALCO’s PV plant started its commercial operations also in September 2004 after securing the first COC. The plant is connected to the existing distribution lines of CEPALCO with an annual energy generation of 1,300,000 kWh. The PV plant displaces barrels of fuel oil and avoids around 24,000 tons of carbon compound emission into the environment. The plant operates only during the daytime, when there is sunlight, and the monitoring and control thereof is done remotely at CEPALCO’s Operations Center, Puntod, Cagayan de Oro City through automated monitoring via distribution system supervisory control and data acquisition (DS SCADA).
CEPALCO’s PV plant is operated in conjunction with its 7-MW Bubunawan Hydropower Plant, enabling the joint PV/hydro resource to effectively reduce system demand. The PV plant is the first of its kind in the world because it is designed for a conjuctive use with the 7-MW hydro plant. The plant is also strategically located, being a distributed resource, which enables CEPALCO to defer expansion or upgrades of some lines and substation. With the aggregate installed capacity of 26,850 kW, CEPALCO is currently providing 1.55% of the maximum carrying capability in the Mindanao Grid and only 0.19% in the National Grid which is well within the market share limitations provided under RA 9136 (Electric Power Industry Reform Act) in a Grid and National Grid, respectively.
“CEPALCO’s PV plant is very impressive for many reasons. It uses renewable solar energy, is environment friendly and also contributes to the Cagayan de Oro City’s energy needs using the novel design of the conjunctive use of a hydro plant”, ERC Officer-in-Charge Alejandro Z. Barin concluded.
January 26, 2010