Dark days expected in Central Philippines

Business Mirror
Tuesday, 16 December 2008 22:25


CEBU CITY—Cebu province and Central Philippines are set for a gloomy 2009 as energy players predict daily rotation brownouts all over the grid caused by thinning reserves and aging power plants.

National Transmission Corp. (Transco) officials said on Tuesday they are asking industries and households to start adopting power-saving measures in order to avert more severe scenarios.

“By 2009 we will still have the same aging plants whose output become lower and lower with power demand going higher and higher,” Crispin Lamayan, Transco assistant vice president for systems operations, said.

“By 2009 the situation will be severe; we cannot afford any of our plants to trip. Until 2010 [with no new power plants], we will have plenty of brownouts.”

Although the business sector is already bracing for difficult scenarios, the president of the Cebu Business Club believes industries, particularly business-process outsourcing firms which employ around 25,000 in Metro Cebu alone, can cope.

“It is scary and we have to be ready for the worst-case scenario. Companies will now have to invest in emergency power,” Gordon Alan Joseph said. “But I believe companies have been investing in emergency power, and with the knowledge that the situation is temporary, up to at most 12 months, this will not cause dislocation.”

The next brand-new power plants in the Cebu-Negros-Panay (CNP) grid, the 245-MW coal-fired plant of Cebu Energy Development Corp. in Toledo City, is still set to be online by the first half of 2010. The 200-MW Kepco Salcon Power Corp. plant is also set to be operational by 2011.

The CNP grid consumes around 900 MW at peak hours, with Visayan Electric Co. eating up close to 350 MW.

Moses Red, National Power Corp. (Napocor) Visayas Corporate Specialist staff, said aging plants are being pushed to the limits because of the strained grid, which, in itself, is posing great danger.

“We are either deferring maintenance, canceling maintenance or running the plants until they trip,” Red said.

He said the government, through the help of distribution utilities and the private sector, are looking for ways to relieve pressure from the grid and minimize the brownouts.

He said Napocor has initiated renting modular power-generator units on Panay Island, the worst hit in Central Philippines, which has been experiencing brownouts since early this year.

Large power consumers, especially in Metro Cebu, have also continued their commitments to run their generator sets during peak hours.

Red said they are now looking for ways to give incentives to these companies. One option is to subsidize their costs and distribute power to consumers of a distribution utility.

Lamayan said demand-side management is also important, especially among households. He said households could switch off nonessential appliances between 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Business leaders have also been pushing for the implementation of the time-of-use mechanism of the Visayan Electric Co., which was already approved but is still under appeal.

“We are also praying for more rains so the weather is cooler. That is 50 MW less demand from the grid,” Lamayan said.