PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Palawan (PIA) -- The Palawan Electric Cooperative (Paleco) has offered  to provide a mobile generator to the municipality of El Nido to support the town’s increasing power demand due to the influx of tourists.

Engr. Rez Contrivida, general manager of Paleco said they already submitted their proposal to the National Power Corporation (Napocor).

As of March, El Nido had already reached 8.1 MW of demand out of 8.85 MW of available power supply provided by Napocor. 

“April, May, and June medyo mataas 'yan, and we all know na maraming mga turista na pumpunta sa El Nido, which is why we are being coordinated by the El Nido area manager and El Nido NPC plant operators to have a solution immediately,” he said.

[The demand is higher in April, May, and June. We all know that there is an influx of tourists going to El Nido, that is why we are coordinating with the El Nido area manager and El Nido plant operators to have an immediate solution.]

Contrivida said Paleco needs to immediately augment its power supply to avoid a rotational blackout in town that could affect tourism-related operations.

Paleco said NPC has not responded yet after the communication letter sent on March 13.

The additional power could support the town’s demand while waiting for Napocor’s additional backup generator, which is set to arrive in June.

Paleco has already given King Energy Generation Inc. a notice of award as the power provider in El Nido for 15 MW. However, Contrivida said it will still take a year to complete all the needed steps required for the provider to supply power to El Nido.

“Ang next process nyan ay notice to proceed na ilalabas ni NEA, then power supply agreement signing. After that, I applied to ERC, and after that, I constructed a power plant. Maybe that will take one more year,” he said.

[The next process will be the notice to proceed to be issued by NEA, then power supply agreement signing. After that, that will be applied to the ERC, followed by the construction of the power plant. Maybe that would take one year.] (RG/PIA MIMAROPA - Palawan)