More blackouts for Visayas

Sunday, 06 December 2009 19:56

EVEN as the Visayas is on its knees at present, trying to crawl out of a power crisis, an official of the energy department has warned of another power crisis by 2013 as no new power plants are breaking ground to supply the region’s electricity needs in the next several years.



Rey Maleza of the Department of Energy (DOE) Visayas field office said there are not enough new power plants scheduled for construction and this may cause problems for the Visayas grid in the next four years.



“We are expecting another critical situation by 2013,” Maleza said.



Crispin Lamayan, assistant vice president for Visayas for systems operations of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines, said the power situation in the region is very volatile.



“Simply put, we have no power reserve to serve the demand of the region,” Lamayan said. “And we do not have power plants we can rely on.”



Visayas has been beset by power crisis after crisis. Early in the decade, brownouts were prevalent as growth outsprinted supply, alleviated only by the increased capacity of the Leyte-Cebu submarine transmission cables. Currently, the region is going through shortages in supply with power plants conking out or underperforming.



Despite the construction of seve-ral—mostly coal-fired—power plants set for completion by next year and 2011, the DOE said the demand growth is huge enough that new power plants should start building by now for completion in two to three years.



Several coal-fired power plants are being built in Toledo City, Cebu (246 MW); Naga, Cebu (200 MW); and La Paz, Iloilo (164 MW); as well as biomass power plants in Mina, Iloilo (15 MW) and by Asia One Power Corp. in various locations (25 MW). These power plants are set for completion in 2010 and 2011.



According to DOE projections, after this batch of power plants, there is not enough capacity coming into the grid by 2012 and beyond.



Aside from the development of the Nasulo (Negros Oriental) geothermal fields which will produce 20 MW, all other projects like that of DMCI in Iloilo (60 MW) had been deferred because of local opposition. A hydroelectric power plant in Aklan  (41 MW) is also encountering technical difficulties. A wind-farm proposal in Guimaras Island (54 MW) is also encountering technical difficulties.



There are plans for an 8-MW plant in Antique by 2013 and a geothermal plant in Dauin, Negros Oriental, by 2014, but these are not enough, according to Lamayan.



“Right now, three times a day, we are drawing power from Luzon and it’s not supposed to be the case,” he said.