Hybrid power project to cut Cebu electricity rates in half

PROPOSED 200-megawatt Hybrid Power Project and subterranean cabling system in Cebu City would reduce the cost of electricity by half.Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council Chairman Gerardo Carillo said on Wednesday, April 20, 2022, that the project can bring down the cost of electricity from P15 per kilowatt-hour to P7-8 per kilowatt-hour.The total power requirement of the city is around 500 megawatts. With this proposed power project, the city can now allocate 200-300 megawatts of electricity that can be routed to residential areas, said Carillo.“With that, we can ask Veco (Visayan Electric Company) to reduce our power rate in Cebu City by having this power (plant),” said Carillo.According to Carillo, the joint venture agreement (JVA) between the Cebu City Government and Cosmo Solar Energy Inc. has already been referred to the JVA Selection Committee.Received as an “unsolicited proposal,” the JVA will then be opened for a “Swiss challenge,” wherein other competitors can offer better options than that offered by the original proponent, said Carillo.Being a hybrid power project, Carillo said the source of energy may come from the sun, wind, waves, renewable gas, diesel, and liquefied petroleum gas.Carillo added that the proponent also proposed to install floating solar panels in the sea.The proponent will spend P75 billion for this project, and part of the obligation of the City in the JVA is to provide an area that will be occupied by the power project, said Carillo.Carillo said the City will allow the proponents to lease land in the South Road Properties.Meanwhile, Carillo said the construction of an underground cabling system will help protect power lines from being destroyed if another calamity happens in the scale of last December’s Typhoon Odette (Rai).“In the mind of the City, if we will put up our own power plant together with a JVA, probably we will be a more disaster-resilient city,” said Carillo.The underground cabling system will not only accommodate a single utility provider but it will be available for electricity, communication, water system and gas lines.