SNAP-Benguet gets ERC green light to operate upgraded hydropower plant

SN Aboitiz Power-Benguet Inc. (SNAP-Benguet) could now operate the upgraded 31.45-megawatt (MW) Unit 1 Turbine of Binga Hydroelectric Power Plant (HEPP) for the next five years.   SNAP-Benguet, a unit of Aboitiz Power Corporation, said Monday it received a Certificate of Compliance (COC) from the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).   “The COC allows SNAP-Benguet to operate their upgraded unit,” Junn Ramos, officer-in-charge of ERC Licensing and Market Monitoring division told GMA News Online Monday. “In simpler terms, puwede na silang magbenta ng kuryente.”   Ramos said a previous COC only allowed the plant in Itogon, Benguet, a maximum of 100 MW, divided into four 25-MW units.   In a report to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), SNAP-Benguet noted that refurbishment and upgrade of the unit started last Jan. 6 and was completed and declared available for commercial operations last July 30.   The COC was given after the ERC determined that “the company has complied with the requirements under the Revised Rules for the Issuance of COC for Generation Companies or Facilities,” Atty. Mike Hosillos, SNAP vice president for Corporate Services and spokesperson for SNAP-Benguet, said in an email interview with GMA News Online.   “In order to be awarded the COC, a company must meet the technical, financial, and environmental standards set by the ERC,” he added.   Asked why Aboitiz decided to upgrade the plant, Hosillos noted the company realized Binga HPEE can “generate more than its original capacity. “Binga began commercial operations in 1960, and while it was fully operational when SNAP-Benguet acquired it, the facility needed repairs and upgrades to ensure its reliability and operational efficiency,” Hosillos said in a statement Monday to the Philippine Stock Exchange.   “Binga was designed to generate more than its original capacity of 100 megawatts, so along with the refurbishment (consisting of construction of a new intake and headrace and modernization of the control system), SNAP-Benguet’s management also decided to upgrade the four turbines units, resulting in a practically brand new plant by the end of 2013,” he added.   SNAP-Benguet acquired the Binga and Ambuklao HEPPs in 2007 after winning the bid under government’s power sector privatization program. — VS, GMA News