HEDCOR GENERATES OVER 900 GWH LAST YEAR
By Henrylito D. Tacio
Photos courtesy of Hedcor
When the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic hit the country in March last year, the Department of Health (DOH) issued several health protocols, including handwashing, physical distancing, and wearing face masks and face shields.
As the country was under quarantine, businesses were greatly affected. People were not coming out from their home as “stay at home” became the mantra of Filipinos who were afraid of being infected by SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 as it is a distant cousin of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome virus.
Since people were staying at home, some of the things they did – and still doing now – were cooking, playing video games, watching television shows, and exercising. To keep themselves cooler, they turned on their air-conditioning devices and electric fans. All these entailed the use of electricity.
“With the new normal caused by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, one of the things that remained constant was the country’s need for electricity,” the AboitizPower said in a statement.
Serving as the backbone that powers the communities’ various functions, Hedcor, the run-of-river hydro arm of AboitizPower, found a bigger responsibility in keeping the lights on.
Last year, Hedcor recorded an Annual Generation of 956,514,413 kWh (kilowatt-hours), or 956 GWh (Gigawatt hours). This is able to power around 400,000 households across the country, all year round.
Hedcor also recorded its lowest Weighted Unplanned Outage Factor (WUOF) at 0.73 percent for 2020, Hedcor’s best record in the past five years. This emphasizes the steady improvement of Hedcor’s plant reliability as it recorded the lowest number of unexpected shutdowns of its hydropower units in recent memory.
“For 2020, we really utilized the ‘Doing more with less’ mindset,” pointed out Rey Rafael, Assistant Vice President for Operations in Luzon.
“While we had to work with a leaner workforce in facility quarantine, we were able to work around the limitations through proper communication, maximization of digital platforms, and simplification of processes,” Rafael added.
This is in line with Hedcor’s operations and maintenance teams opting to divide their workforce, placing teams on alternating 14-day facility quarantine, as a precautionary measure to avoid possible exposure to the coronavirus.
Beyond continuously meeting the energy needs of the community, the pandemic has not stopped Hedcor from innovating and meeting global standards.
Just recently, Luzon Hydro Corp. located in Ilocos Sur, as well as the Davao-based Hedcor Sibulan, Inc. and Hedcor Tudaya, Inc. were recertified for ISO 22301:2012 Business Continuity Management System.
The aforementioned, along with Hedcor, Inc., and Hedcor Sabangan, Inc. in Mountain Province were also recertified for ISO 27001:2013 Information Security Management System, ISO 9001:2018 Quality Management System, and ISO 14001:2015 Environmental Management System.
On top of this, Hedcor also took a big step towards digital operations by inaugurating its first-ever Regional Control Center in Southern Mindanao.
This control center is able to connect Hedcor’s five hydro facilities in Davao City and four hydro facilities in Davao del Sur, allowing all nine plants in Southern Mindanao to be operated remotely in a single control room.
“For 2021, the main objective is an even safer, more reliable, and highly available operation,” said Leo Lungay, Assistant Vice President for Operations in Mindanao.
“With lessons from 2020 and the previous years under our belt, we look forward to not only ‘keeping the lights on’, but to also thrive and excel in doing so amid any possible adversities,” Lungay explained.