Dumaguete journalists visited Boracay Island in Malay, Aklan last week as part of a familiarization tour on the energy situation in the Visayas. The visit to Aklan was arranged by the Energy Development Corporation, which supplies power to the Aklan electric Cooperative.{{more}}
Hermo Patacsil, CorPlan manager of AKELCO, told the Dumaguete reporters during a press briefing they are seeing to it that there shall be minimal or no power interruption in Boracay and its other service areas despite the Visayas-wide power supply deficit.
Patacsil said that since they inked a power supply agreement with Green Core Geothermal, Inc. last April, Aklanons and tourists coming especially to Boracay are now enjoying the benefits of stable power supply as the number of local and foreign tourists coming to the world-renowned island-paradise of Boracay in Malay, Aklan continues to rise this year.
The Department of Tourism in Iloilo City has said that Boracay Island’s revenues reached P12.17 billion as of the third quarter of this year, higher than last year’s figures, mainly due to tourism.
The DOT said more than 600,000 local and foreign tourists were recorded coming to Boracay for the same period, which according to the DOT, is over 40 percent higher than the number of visitors to the island last year at 470,000.
Patacsil emphasized that because Boracay Island is one of the country’s major tourist draws and the province of Aklan’s primary income-earner, AKELCO must ensure that it has stable and dependable power supply to the island.
AKELCO’s power requirements reach 36 MW, with Green Core being the majority supplier of the cooperative’s base load of 18 MW, Patacsil added.
The rest of the power requirement is being supplied through mixed generation of power, such as coal-fired and diesel power, from the National Power Corporation and the Panay Power Corporation, said Patacsil.
The daily peak load hours in Aklan, specifically in Boracay, are from 4 pm to 8 am and AKELCO has a power reserve of 12.5 MW solely intended for the island via a power plant being managed by Aspa, he said. Patacsil said consumers did not budge when AKELCO inked an agreement with Green Core as the company offers a cheaper selling rate to them than other independent power producers, not to mention that GCGI provides clean and renewable geothermal energy.
He said they offer the lowest power rates in Panay compared to other electric cooperatives.
Boracay Island and other parts of Aklan, rarely get to experience power outages except only when there is a congestion in the transmission line or when the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines decides to impose a manual load shedding at any given time, Patacsil said.
AKELCO is delighted to have signed an agreement with GCGI for a lock-in period of ten years as the latter has assured to give them steady and sturdy power supply to boost the tourism industry in Aklan and Boracay, he added.
The DOT said it has recorded more than 230 thousand foreign tourists who have visited Boracay as of October, this year. Peak season usually is from
October through the summer months until May, said the DOT.
Tourists continue to flock to Boracay despite travel advisories by countries like the United States, United Kingdom and Australia cautioning their citizens from coming to the Philippines due to terror threats. (JFP/PNA)