TAWI-TAWI POWER PLANTS NOW OPERATING

THREE power plants in Tawitawi province are now operating nonstop, state- owned National Power Corp. (Napocor) said on Friday.

“We now have considerable power reserves [in] our power plants in the municipalities of Balimbing (now called Panglima Sugala), Mapun, and Sibutu, hence the extension of its operating hours from 16 hours to 24 hours,” Nestor Flauta, Napocor’s chief for the Small Power Utilities Group (SPUG)-Mindanao Operations Department, said in a statement.

The facilities’ continuous op-

4,000 households and are expected to bolster local livelihood activities,

- ing, he added.

Napocor’s other power plants in the province—Manuk Mangkaw and West Simunul village in Simunul; Tandubanak village in Sibutu; Sitangkai; Tandubas; and Languyan—are included in Napocor’s capacity-addition program for this year.

Such programs for the next two years have been laid down to ensure a more reliable power supply and eventually provide uninterrupted power in off-grid islands, Napocor President and Chief Executive Of-

“For our existing power plants, we are targeting to install a total of 58 megawatts of new capacities this year,” he added.

As part of its capacity-addition plans, the Balimbing and Sibutu diesel power plants will receive an additional 500-kilowatt (kW) and 600-kW generating sets, respectively, this year.

About 1,500 households serviced by the Palimbang diesel plant in Sultan Kudarat province are set to have uninterrupted electricity next week.

In May, Napocor energized the 69-kilovolt (kV) Calapan-Puerto Galera transmission line in Oriental Mindoro province.

This would support the 13.8-kV distribution line of the Masbate Electric Cooperative Inc. (Maselco) in the province.

Works done by Napocor on the 41- kilometer transmission line included replacing wooden poles with steel ones and installed new insulators, power conductors, and other line hardware.