By Mike Baños
The Phividec Industrial Authority is actively seeking measures to make its Phividec Industrial Estate in Misamis Oriental more self-sufficient for its electricity needs, while at the same time providing for more power for the region.
PEZA Dir. Gen. Theo O. Panga and PHIVIDEC IA Administrator & CEO Atty. Joseph Donato J. Bernedo in a recent interview with the author.
Recently, Phividec Industrial Authority (PHIVIDEC IA) Administrator and Chief Executive Officer Atty. Joseph Donato J. Bernedo attended a board meeting of the A Power Corporation to elect its new set of officers and board of directors.
A Power is the joint venture between PHIVIDEC IA and the Cagayan Electric Power & Light Co. (Cepalco) which supplies the power needs of the PHIVIDEC IA and its locator industries within the estate. At the meeting, measures to improve delivery and supply of electric power were discussed.
Mindanao Coal power plant by STEAG State Power at the Phividec Industrial Estate in Villanueva, Misamis Oriental.
“I brought that up with the former administrator,” disclosed Director General Tereso O. Panga of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA). “We suggested to them we can replicate our model in Sarangani which resolved the conflict between the Alcantaras and SOCOTECO by forming a group as an embedded utilities provider.”
PHIVIDEC likewise signed a contract on July 19, 2022 with FDC Green Energy Corporation (a subsidiary of FDC Utilities Inc.) for the setting up of an 11.5 megawatt (MW) solar power plant in an 11-hectare (ha.) area within the 84 has. leased by FDC from the estate.
“We hope the project would be completed by August 13, 2024 in time for the PHIVIDEC IA’s 50th Anniversary, with an additional seven (7) hectares for solar power being discussed and proposed” Atty. Bernedo disclosed.
As the owner of the estate, DG Panga said Phividec should also benefit from the sale of power because “we’ve been doing that within all our public economic zones so everyone is captive because we own the distribution systems,” he noted.
He also observed how the estate’s self-sufficiency in electricity could be a key factor in attracting big ticket investments such as the flagship Integrated Steel Mill (ISM) project.
A section of an Intergrated Steel Mill Complex.
“(But) looking at the share of Northern Mindanao, it’s so small, with total PEZA investments only at one percent and there’s huge potential. But because of Open access and the WESM that’s coming up and becoming a reality, the first item we really have to address because you have the location already is power.”
He noted how the 200MW coal-fired power plant of the STEAG State Power Inc. (SPI) is located right inside the estate, yet neither the PIA nor its locator in industries are allowed to source power directly from them.
“You have STEAG, in preparation for the Open Access you don’t have to go to Cepalco, you can have your own embedded system inside the economic zone,” DG Panga suggested.
####
