DOE urged to monitor construction of new power facilities

MANILA, Philippines - Former Energy Secretary Petilla urged the Department of Energy to monitor the construction of new power plants to ensure the continued supply of electricity during El Nino months.

Fears of power outages during the hot El Nino months would not happen if the DOE could ensure the construction of the additional power plants would be finished on time, Petilla said at yesterday’s Kapihan sa Manila Bay.

Petilla said he is not overly worried  there would be a shortage in the power supply during the expected strong El Nino phenomenon that is expected to hit the country starting this month until the first half of 2016.

However, he said there should still be a “level of concern”.

“There should always be a level of concern if there will be a crisis but it would be manageable. It will be manageable in Luzon and Mindanao,” Petilla said.

He said there are several coal plants being put up, some of which are expected to be operational within the year that would greatly boost the electrical supply in Mindanao.

However, Petilla added, that while there are new power plants coming in, the DOE should be very vigilant to ensure the construction of these plants would be completed on time. “We need to be very focused. We have to monitor the progress of the plants. The DOE should go out there and tell the plants that we need dates (of completion),” he said.

He said while Visayas is perceived to have a limited power supply during the dry spell, this could be addressed by power supply that would come from Luzon.

The former Energy chief also pointed out that the job of power and water conservation does not lie with government alone. “We are all in this together”.

“On the demand side, everyone wants to have (electrical) power so we could reduce our consumption even during these times there is a need to cut on usage, once the situation improves then may be we could splurge (on  power use),” he added.