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Volume III, No. 149
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See story on Page A1 12 November 24, 2014 P15.00
Government troops seized another camp of NPA rebel By CHRIS V. PANGANIBAN Agsur News Bureau
More peaking plants needed to address gap in power mix: Petilla
BAYUGAN City––Army soldiers seized another New Peoples Army rebel training camp anew near the mountainous village of Pinagalahan, about six kilometers from the city, barely a week with the capture of a large rebel camp in neighboring Sibagat town.
By Mike Baños, Editor-at-Large
See FULL STORY, page A7
Snail-pace trial for Ampatuan Massacre very frustrating—IFJ
AMPATUAN MASSACRE Site, Maguindanao––The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has urged President Benigno Aquino III to act swiftly in resolving the Ampatuan Massacre case before his term ends in 2016. “We have come back and found the snail-pace court proceedings very disheartening,” Mike Dobbie, who led the IFJ mission in 2009, said. IFJ is among the growing community of international media groups that expressed concern on the slow phase of court proceeding of the Ampatuan Massacre criminal case. On November 23, the 5th anniversary of the gruesome massacre, the South East Asia Press Alliance will also join national media groups in Manila in commemorating the carnage. November 23 has been declared as the See FRUSTRATING, page A9
Ceremonial Switch On. PSI Chair Dr Walter W. Brown, Gensan Chamber
Pres. Raul Josefino F. Miguel, NEA Administrator Edith Bueno, Energy Sec. Jericho Petilla, SOCOTECO-II Pres. Elenito Senit and PSI Pres. Roel Z. Castro put their hands together for the ceremonial switch-on of PSI’s 20MW bunker fueled peaking plant November 20, 2014 at Barangay Apopong, General Santos City. Photo by Mike Baños, NPN
ENERGY Secretary Jericho L. Petilla is urging investors to consider putting up more peaking plants in Mindanao to address a perceived gap in the island’s emerging power mix. In his keynote speech during the blessing and inauguration of the 20MW bunker-fired power plant of Peakpower Socsargen Inc. (PSI) in Barangay Apopong, General Santos City on November 20, 2014, Petilla said, although there are many plants coming in he was worried there are not enough peaking plants. “While there will be many new plants opening
DOE still pushing RE in Mindanao but calls for more ancillary services By Mike Baños, Editor-at-Large
Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho L. Petilla has reiterated the Department of Energy commitment to push renewable energy in Mindanao but warns that new plants have to be balanced by ancillary services due to the volatile nature of RE. “We should also push renewables, but we have to be cognizant that RE is intermittent,” Petilla stressed in his keynote speech during the blessing and inauguration of the 20MW bunker-fired power plant of Peakpower Socsargen Inc. (PSI) in
Barangay Apopong, General Santos City on November 20, 2014. Petilla cited the case of Germany’s regulatory agencies which, despite the presence of six contractors predicting the behavior of renewable energy to its power grid, have had to resort to importing energy from neighboring countries in the few times the projections failed to match actual demand. “In Europe, they can import power from other countries to address shortages arising from this, but we don’t have the same option due to the archipelagic nature of the Philippines,” he added.
Ancillary services are defined as anything that supports the transmission of electricity from its generation site to the user, including load regulation, spinning reserve, non-spinning reserve, replacement reserve and voltage support. Records compiled by the Department of Energy (DOE) show some 157 listed RE projects in Mindanao with an aggregate capacity of approximately 1,700 megawatts as of September, 2014. Although the Mindanao Development Authority confirms See services, page A9
soon in Mindanao, most of them are baseload plants,” Petilla explained. “I’d like to encourage more peaking plants because in the end, you cannot just rely on baseload plants. There will never be enough if there is no demand and you’re left with the peaking part hanging.” He cited the soon to be completed 300MW coal fired power plant of Aboitiz Power Corporation (APC) in Davao City as an example. “Even if the Aboitiz 300MW coal fired power plant becomes See plants, page A9
Privatization of garbage collection in Surigao mulled SURIGAO City––Citing the growing operational expenses in garbage collection, the city government is considering to privatize it. Atty. Manuel D. Delani, city legal officer, said the local government unit (LGU) wants to consult the public on the possible privatization of waste collection. Delani, speaking in behalf of Mayor Ernesto See mulled, page A5
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