The Very First Electric Power Generating Plant in the Philippines

This is an erratum to my previous article about what really is the first and oldest power plant in the Philippines. Though it’s correct that those mentioned plants are indeed the first and oldest hydro plants in the Philippines, the real first electric generating plant in the country was the Central Power Plant on Calle San Sebastian (now R. Hidalgo) in Manila City. It was built by La Electricista, the Philippine’s first electric company.

Though various sources, MERALCO website and Wikipedia, have a conflicting accounts on the date of its construction - 1892 according to MERALCO website while 1895 according to Wikipedia, we are quite sure that it was older than those plants mentioned in my previous article, and it is more convincing to consider as the first power plant that lighted the homes and streets of Manila more than 100 years ago or just less than 20 years after Edison invented the first commercial incandescent bulb.

In 1903, about 3,000 electric light customers and the city government with its streetlights were served by La Electricista.

Since the location of this power plant has no hydro resource and that the first diesel internal combustion engine was invented only on 1892, I think that the Central Power Plant is a steam powered engine plant fueled by coal.

Category Filed in: Power Plants in the Philippines
Local date: March, 2010