Bant ayan Island Electric Cooperative, Inc. (Banelco) has engaged Isla Norte Energy Corporation (INEC), the joint venture of Vivant Energy Corp. and Gigawatt Power Inc., to provide additional power source amid the power supply shortages experienced in the past months which resulted to rotational brownouts.
Banelco tapped INEC to address the said power supply shortages and the company installed an additional 3MW rented gensets composed of 3 x 1 MW units starting August 11, 2020.
“The additional 3 MW gensets somehow stabilized the power supply situation in the island and significantly improved the power supply reliability in the Island which will benefit over 33,000 connected consumers,” according to Banelco general manager Lee Rivera.
He said Banelco experienced an uncharacteristic growth in demand every year in the past six years, consistently surpassing forecasts.
Banelco vowed to electrify its entire franchise area by 2022, in support of the government’s electrification agenda.
“While Bantayan Island was dubbed as the next major tourist destination in the country, our main objective is total electrification of every households in our franchise area by the year 2022 consistent with the national government’s strategy,” according to Rivera.
“As a tourist destination, reliable power supply is a vital factor to address the consequent growth in power demand and to sustain the economic development of Bantayan Island,” Rivera said.
Bantayan Island was recently opened for domestic tourism and Banelco is readying its distribution system to meet the surge in demand.
