111507 mv -Gemma Q. Casas Variety News Staff
GOVERNOR Benigno R. Fitial says his administration is studying the possibility of converting back to heavy fuel oil in the Commonwealth Utilities Corp.’s power plants which are currently using on the more expensive diesel fuel.
“We may have to resort to the use of cheaper fuel,” said Fitial.
All of the eight engines at Saipan’s power plant 1, the main source of electricity on the island, are designed to burn heavy-fuel-oil. They did so for many years until CUC management switched to diesel fuel.
The plan comes amid the cash-strapped government’s continued difficulty in keeping up with the soaring prices of imported fuel from Singapore that is used to run the public power plants, water wells, sewage plants and other facilities.
The issue of establishing a regional fuel cooperative supply was reiterated again during the three-day 8th Micronesia Chief Executives’ Summit being held here.
Fitial, the chairman of this year’s summit, asked his fellow island leaders — Palau President Tommy Remengesau, Guam Gov. Felix Camacho, Yap Gov. Sebastian Anefal and the Federated States of Micronesia’s representative Robert Lawrence — to support the move.
“We will be getting together after the summit to agree on creating a regional office for energy….Last March, we agreed that we will collaborate on fossil fuel energy bulk purchases,” said Fitial.
He said the only major obstacle to this plan is the lack of proper storage facilities to store the fuel.
“The only issue we have with that is the fuel farm. Where are we going to store the fuel after we purchase it in bulk?” he said. “We’re looking at Guam to take the fuel farm role. As you may know it has a refinery owned by Shell.”
Camacho said Guam’s infrastructure can accommodate bulk purchases of fuel.
“Infrastructure is in place in Guam. We have to look at this regionally. I know there have been discussions on this with Petron out in the Philippines,” said the Guam governor.
“Certainly, if all the islands had the holding capacity for fuel, then distribution would be another matter,” he added.
The islands are considering making wholesale fuel purchases from Manila rather than Singapore to save money.
“By buying in bulk from the Philippines, for example, where they have their own refinery we can probably lower the cost,” said Camacho.
Remengesau said by working together, islands can accomplish more, especially on major issues such as energy.
“We have proven that by working together, and by organizing subregional committees to focus on areas of concern, we can better address critical issues on a subregional basis,” he said.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
.
.
TAOTAO TANO UPDATES
- WATCH OUR LATEST VIDEO!!
- 120707 mv - Taotao Tano prepares for power plant tour
- 112807 mv -Taotao Tano wants to see CUC power plants, offices
- 113007 mv -Taotao Tano blames lawmakers for passing defective law
- 112907 mv-Taotao Tano slams CUC on security deposit
- 111307 mv -Fitial’s power rate hike sends Taotao Tano back to the street
FLASH BACK 2006
CONSUMERS OPINION ON CUC
WHAT IS RISING OUT IN THE COMMUNITY
HEAR WHAT CUC HAS TO SAY
- MV 121007 - Administration takes over CUC, again
- 120607 mv - Falling trees cause islandwide blackout
- 120507 mv - CUC will again charge record-high power rates this month
- 113007 mv -CUC short by $2.5M for fuel payments
- 112907 mv -4 power generators still down
- 113007 mv - Only 3 engines running at main power plant
- 112207 mv- Emergency blackout hits Saipan
LEGISLATURE OPINION & RESPONSE ON CUC
NEW ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES OPINIONS ON CUC
OPA FINDINGS ON CUC & ITS BILL
.
.
No comments:
Post a Comment