ERC Grants a COC to Ormin Power, Inc.

The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), on 28 November 2011, awarded the Certificate of Compliance (COC) to Ormin Power, Inc. (OPI), giving it the go signal to commence the commercial operations of its four (4) unit Bunker C Fired Diesel Power Plant Facility that is supported by a 100 kW Black Start Diesel Generating Set. The newly constructed generating facility has an aggregate capacity of 6.464 MW (4 X 1.616 MW) and is located at the ORMECO Compound, Brgy. Sta. Isabel, Calapan City, Oriental Mindoro.

OPI is a stock corporation that registered with the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in April 2010. Its primary purposes are to: (i) provide power generation and electricity supply services to distribution utilities, including but not limited to electric cooperatives; (ii) install, build, own, lease, maintain operate power generation facilities using fossil fuel, natural gas or renewable energy; and (iii) engage in any and all acts which may be necessary or convenient in the furtherance of such power generation services.

OPI entered into a Power Supply Agreement (PSA) with Oriental Mindoro Electric Cooperative, Inc. (ORMECO) in 9 September 2010 where OPI agreed to construct, operate, and maintain the needed Power Generation Plant on a Build-Operate-Own basis and to supply ORMECO with electricity. ORMECO, for its part, agreed to buy such electricity up to the plant’s production capacity. The Cooperation Period covers fifteen (15) years starting at the onset of commercial operation. The supply of power to ORMECO’s power station shall be more or less 3,800,000 kWh of energy per month or a maximum of 8 MW power. The said PSA was granted provisional approval by the ERC on April 2011.

Also, OPI and ORMECO executed a Subsidy Agreement with the National Power Corporation (NPC). The Agreement provides payment of subsidies to qualified New Private Providers (NPP) of power servicing NPC-SPUG (Small Power Utility Grid) areas performing NPC’s Missionary Electrification (ME) function. Section 4 of ERC Resolution No. 21, Series of 2011 provides that in cases where the NPP True Cost Generation Rate (TCGR) is higher than the Socially Acceptable Generation Rate (SAGR), the NPP shall be allowed to recover the difference from the ME subsidy.
The ERC, upon inspection and evaluation, found OPI’s power plant facilities to be compliant with the technical, financial and environmental standards set in ERC’s Rules for the Issuance of Certificate of Compliance (COC) for Generation Companies/Facilities (COC Rules). OPI was also found to be compliant with the Philippine Grid Code and Distribution Code, the WESM Rules, environmental and other applicable laws. The COC granted to OPI will expire on 08 November 2016.

“The granting of COC to OPI supports the government’s thrust to accelerate the rural electrification program that seeks to promote economic growth in the countryside. We also see that allowing access of more players in the electric power industry helps ensure the sustainability of power supply and the achievement of the envisioned competitive power rates,” ERC Chairperson Zenaida G. Cruz-Ducut remarked.

December 01, 2011

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