Hanjin’s shipyard makes Mindanao vulnerable to outages- TRANSCO

May 11, 2008

hanjin shipyard

WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN? Here is a photo of how a Hanjin shipyard looks like in the US. Another Hanjin shipyard –which would have been the second largest outside of Korea — would have been underway right now here in Villanueva, Misamis Oriental, if only Mindanao had enough power supply to sustain its operations.

By Lizanilla J. Amarga

The operations of the US $2 billion Hanjin Heavy Industries Construction Corp. (HHICC) shipyard with its 100 megawatt requirement at Villanueva, Misamis Oriental can easily drain the bundled Mindanao Power Grid.

It will thus, make Mindanao very vulnerable to island-wide power blackouts.

National Transmission Corporation (Transco- Mindanao) District 3 Area Manager Engr. Emmanuel Abellanosa said Hanjin was already facing a major power supply problem if it pushes with its shipyard project here in Mindanao.

He explained that Hanjin’s 422-hectare shipyard with its 40,000 workers cannot be allowed to get its power supply direct from the Mindanao Power Grid because of the huge power supply its operations require.

“Dili gyud pwede kay kung dunay gamay nga trip-off sa Mindanao Grid suyopon sa Hanjin ang tanan power supply ug magblack out tanan Mindanao ana (It cannot be done as a minor trip-off of the Mindanao Power Grid would allow Hanjin to draw in all the power supply and the entire Mindanao area will be thrown in a blackout),” he told Gold Star Daily.

Transco records show that Mindanao may have an existing generating capacity of 1,850.4 megawatts beginning 2008 but it has a dependable capacity of only 1,520 megawatts amid a required capacity of 1,742 megawatts.

By next year 2009, Transco reports that Mindanao will be reaching what they call as a “critical period” considering that there is no new major independent power producer in the horizon and the required capacity is placed at a conservative estimate of 1,842 megawatts.

With no interested power producer in sight, Mindanao’s dependable capacity would still be pegged at 1,520 megawatts still while the island’s required capacity would then be 2,087 megawatts in 2010 and then 2,228 megawatts in 2011. By 2012, Mindanao power requirement is expected to be at 2,382 megawatts.

The power supply problem facing Mindanao was also among the primary reasons why the third world’s largest steel producer Pohang Iron and Steel Company (POSCO) backed-off from then Cagayan de Oro city mayor now Vice-Mayor Vicente Emano’s invitation to invest with Hanjin here in Northern Mindanao.

At that time, Emano announced that POSCO was already interested to pour out some $750 million smelting plant either at Villanueva or Opol both of Misamis Oriental. Both POSCO and Hanjin were assured that power supply would be available for them.

Hanjin president JS Shim earlier told Malacañang that its general manufacturing plant to building ships would be in full operation in 2009 and will be fabricating ships and its parts in 2010.

He added that by 2012 the Northern Mindanao Hanjin facility is expected to export $1.7 billion worth of shipbuilding parts and vessels.

Hanjin officials tried to negotiate with STEAG State Power, Inc. to directly purchase 100 megawatts from its 210 megawatts Mindanao Coal-Fired Power Plant which is also located in Villanueva, Misamis Oriental.

STEAG State Power Inc.’s communications officer Jerome Soldevilla yesterday disclosed that indeed Hanjin asked their company on the possibility of producing some 100 megawatts power supply for its shipyard and directly purchasing the same.

Considering that Hanjin and their coal plant are just practically neighbors at the Phividec Industrial Estate, he said it would have been a great opportunity except that their power plant’s capacity is only 210 megawatts.

“And our hands are tied. Our contract with NPC stipulates that all the power we produce will be sold to them only…so we cannot help Hanjin even if we want to,” he told this paper.

He added that Hanjin can buy a power barge of its own but it will have to contend with diesel fuel which is currently reaching record-high prices in the world market at around $122 per barrel.

Abellanosa said that the most viable solution would be to convince STEAG State Power Inc. to construct another coal-fired power plant at the Phividec area to independently and directly supply power Hanjin shipyard’s power requirement.

He expressed convictions that STEAG’s coal plant can share its existing port, coal depot and other facilities to make the construction of another plant faster, easier and less costly.

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Written by admin · Filed Under Misamis Oriental