By Myrna M. Velasco
More than P1.0 billion worth of projects are set to take off from the blueprints of Davao del Norte Electric Cooperative (DANECO) – and such will be mainly bankrolled by a loan from the Bank of Commerce, a subsidiary of San Miguel Corporation.
The projects, as unveiled by National Electrification Administration (NEA) chief Edgardo Masongsong, target to improve energy access of the areas that the Davao electric cooperative has been servicing to.
The power utility in particular will be installing a 72-kilovolt (kV) submarine cable to reinforce power supply for one of its key customers – the Island Garden City of Samal.
The rest of the programmed project spending will be for the setting up of a 69-kV overhead sub-transmission line for a submarine cable connection; as well as a 20-megavolt ampere (MVA) substation on Samal island.
Part of the Davao electric cooperative’s capital outlay will likewise be for its new office building in Tagum City, the main base of its operations.
The two-storey DANECO building shall be financed by NEA via its enhanced lending program, according to Masongsong. This is targeted for completion within the year.
For the submarine cable project, NEA indicated that this spans across 11.5 kilometers from Pantukan, Compostela Valley to Aundanao, Peñaplata in IGACOS (Island Garden City of Samal). The 20MVA substation, on the other, will underpin the demand growth that had been cast for Samal island.
In a related development, DANECO inked recently a memorandum of agreement with Davao del Sur Electric Cooperative (DASURECO) and the Davao Oriental Electric Cooperative Inc. (DORECO) along with Yamog Renewable Energy Development Group Inc. for solar installations that will energize off-grid communities within their service areas. These specified installations would be funded by the European Union-Access to Sustainable Energy Programme (ASEP).
Masongsong qualified that the pipelined projects of DANECO are a manifestation of its resolve to become part of the government’s bid to fully electrify all households in the country on or before the end of the Duterte administration.
He stressed that “this is a product of collective effort of all the member-consumer-owners of DANECO,” with the help of the local government units in Davao del Norte and Davao de Oro (formerly Compostela Valley).
It is the wish of the electrification agency that the projects of the Davao electric cooperatives would be able to provide cheaper as well as more reliable electricity services to the consumers and for these to spur economic activities in their respective areas.