THE Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has fined Sem-Calaca Power Corp. (SCPC) a total of P4.31 million after the two units of its power plants breached the maximum allowable unplanned outages.
In a decision posted on its website on Monday, the ERC found the company to have violated Article 5 of the commission’s Resolution No. 10, Series of 2020 after its power plant’s units 1 and 2 exceeded by 5.24 days and 96.2 days, respectively, the 16.8 days allowable unplanned outages for a pulverized coal-fired power plant per generation unit per year.
“According to SCPC, most of these unplanned outages were due to leaks in the boiler tubes and burners which were not part of SCPC Unit 1’s Life Extension Program (LEP),” the ERC said.
The ERC decision was supported by Resolution No. 21, series of 2016, which measures power reliability via frequency, duration, and magnitude of adverse effects on the electric supply.
Frequency is the number of times the generation unit went offline after it had breached the maximum allowable unplanned outage; duration is calculated as the number of total unplanned outage days minus the maximum allowable unplanned outage days; magnitude is the rated capacity of the generating unit divided by the highest rated capacity in the grid where the generating unit is located, the ERC explained.
Frequency is the basis of the imposable penalty, while duration and magnitude are given the percentages of 40% and 60%, respectively, in consideration of their significance to reliability, the commission said.
BusinessWorld has reached out to DMCI Holdings, Inc., the holding firm of SCPC’s parent company Semirara Mining and Power Corp., for a comment on the decision but has not immediately received a response. SCPC operates a coal-fired power plant in Calaca, Batangas with two identical units of 300 megawatt units.
The ERC said in its decision that the power industry is imbued with public interest under Republic Act No. 9136 or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 (EPIRA) “to ensure the quality, reliability, security, and affordability of the supply of electric power” and “to protect the public interest as it is affected by the rates and services of electric utilities and other providers of electric power.” — Marielle C. Lucenio
