Sustainability Therma Visayas, Inc.

AboitizPower team members find fulfillment in work amid pandemic

May 29, 2020

As community quarantines seem to have brought the world to a halt in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, people on the frontline are racing to win the war against the disease.

Standing alongside our frontliners are a group of people with a mission to spread positive energy by helping keep the lights on.

Jaypee Teves knows that the world cannot afford to stand still. Food needs to be manufactured. Hospitals need to run. People need to connect with one another. Homes need to be energized.

He is one of the people in the power sector working doubly hard to make sure that life continues even under unusual circumstances.

“I can’t imagine how we would survive without electricity. Hospitals use it for their equipment. Our fellow Filipinos observing home quarantine use it in their houses, since init na pud kaayo ron kay (it’s very hot nowadays during) summertime,” Jaypee said.

Jaypee is part of the Therma Visayas, Inc. (TVI) personnel rendering duty during their facility quarantine. This entails staying inside the facility for a period of time until it is time for the next skeleton team to take over.

His role in TVI’s water treatment team involves doing walkdowns to check areas assigned to him, which he said is vital to ensuring they deliver the amount and quality of water needed so the plant can operate properly.

TVI generates electricity by using Circulating Fluidized Bed (CFB) technology to convert coal into energy with the least possible adverse effects on the environment. Coal is burned at a relatively low temperature and heats up water to create steam. This steam is superheated and pressurized and turns the turbines that are connected to generators that create electricity. Jaypee and the water treatment team ensure that the water meets the conditions to create quality steam.

Jaypee said he gets fulfillment and satisfaction from doing something that can have a profound impact on the nation, adding that while most people won’t see their efforts, doing their jobs well could make the greatest difference amid the pandemic.

“At the end of the day, mubalik ra pud sa atoa ang atong gihimo (what we do comes back to us). So let’s do our best. Let’s be our best,” he added.