Limasawa Island fully energized

NATIONAL Power Corp. ( Napocor) has fully energized the island of Limasawa in Southern Leyte with service hours having been extended to 24 hours from 16 previously.

The state- owned firm said it had sufficient reserve capacity from the Limasawa Diesel Power Plant, which is also set to receive two 200- kilowatt ( kW) generating sets and another two 300- kW units via a 2018 capacity addition program.

Napocor said the development would bolster tourism on the island, which is where the first Catholic mass in the Philippines was celebrated in 1521.

Napocor also energized about 100 households in two sitios on the island of Sto. Niño, Western Samar where it runs two mini grids and two power plants with Samar Electric Cooperative, Inc. 1 ( SAMELCO 1) operating the distribution lines.

SAMELCO 1 was asked to construct three 13.2- kilovolt segments to complete the distribution line loop, which will enable “power plants to share supply resulting to a more stable and improved quality of power.”

Napocor also recently commissioned two 105- kilowatt ( kW) gen- erating sets in a town in Tawi-Tawi, initially providing eight hours of power supply to residents under its missionary electrification mandate.

Napocor President and Chief Executive Officer Pio Benavidez said in April that that the firm was looking for ways to make “missionary electricity” more reliable and cheaper.

Napocor, among other functions, is tasked to provide generation and associated power delivery systems in missionary areas or islands and communities that are connected to the main transmission grid.