With the new normal in 2020, one of the things that remained constant was the need for electricity. Serving as the backbone that powers the communities’ various functions, Hedcor–the run-of-river arm of AboitizPower, found a bigger responsibility in keeping the lights on.
As of 2020, Hedcor recorded an Annual Generation of 956,514,413 kWh. This is able to power around 400,000 households across the country, year-round.
Hedcor has 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 means that Hedcor’s hydropower facilities have been steadily improving its plant reliability as it monitored the lowest record of unprecedented shutdown of hydropower units.
“For 2020, we really utilized the ‘Doing more with less’ mindset,” shared 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 inline with Hedcor’s operations and maintenance teams (O&M) opting to divide their workforce into two–putting one team in a 14-day facility quarantine alternately–as a contingency in case one team gets infected.
Aside from 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 Mt. 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 operations,” shared 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 added.
