Diesel too costly for PPL

The price of diesel is costing PNG Power Limited one-third of its revenue.

Acting CEO, Alex Oa, revealed this on Thursday.

He said moving away from diesel was one of the main objectives of PPL by looking at alternative power sources.

Oa said PPL is currently looking into power generation sources which are cheap and quick to deliver.

This is because diesel engine power generators are costing the state entity revenue.

He said for many of the proposed power generation projects, PPL is prioritising alternative means.

“And we haven’t really progressed such because diesel has been costing us one-third of the revenue that we generate, and so it’s very expensive and we need to move away and insulate ourselves from the world oil prices. So that’s the main aim going forward,” Oa said.

While diesel is costly, it is also the upkeep of ageing technology which PPL needs to continue operating for consistent power supply.

Some of the major power generation projects proposed for the country include the Ramu 2, Purari, Edevu and the biomass fuel project with Oil Search, and the Port Moresby power grid upgrade with ExxonMobil.

These projects entail the use of alternate and clean energy sources which will need new infrastructure to be rolled.

Oa says this is also a priority heading into the future.

“We have a very old infrastructure which we need to improve the technology and upgrade it.

“So those are some of the things we are doing. PPL is aware of the situation in the country and we are working on it,” he said.

Author: 
Cedric Patjole