Traders push for power importation

Cebu’s business sector is confident that the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) will immediately give favorable response to the request of power importation amid the power shortage being experienced by Cebu.

Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry Power Core Group chairman Carlos Co said that the business group had already sent its request to NGCP last week to consider power importation from Leyte or Luzon, in order to arrest the power shortage in Metro Cebu.

CCCI is requesting NGCP to maximize the capacity of the submarine cable in the Cebu-Negros-Panay Grid that can carry a maximum of 400 megawatts (MW) and now running only at 360 MG. 

According to Co, if power importation from Leyte or from Aboitiz Power’s Tiwi-Makban plant in Luzon will be granted, the immediate additional power of 40 MG will substantially help the power shortage in Cebu.

“Frequent brownout is everyone’s concern. We hope that NGCP will consider our request as soon as possible,” Co said in an interview yesterday.

Co said once NGCP will agree on the request, power can be immediately transmitted to Cebu.

Earlier, Aboitiz Power (AP) announced its move for power importation and is working with NGCP and the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).

Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Inc. president and chief executive officer Erramon I. Aboitiz announced that this need should have been implemented “yesterday”, but due to protocol and legality issues of importing power passing through two grids, this has to take some time.

At present, the Leyte-Cebu submarine cables transmits 360 MW from the geothermal fields in Leyte. If this proposal will be granted, it can transmit power only during off-peak hours from Luzon, especially from its Tiwi-Makban geothermal complex, Aboitiz said.

“This is the first time that it’s going to happen. We’re working with the regulator (Energy Regulatory Commission) and the transmission company (NGCP) to see how this will be possible,” said Juan Antonio E. Bernad, AP executive vice-president for strategy and regulatory affairs.

Initially, the company is planning to import at least 10 megawatts during off-peak hours through the existing submarine cables connecting Luzon to Leyte and Leyte to Cebu to its sister-company Balamban Enerzone, but it is also looking at augmenting power supply in Cebu in offering this to different power distribution companies in the province, especially the Visayas Electric Company (VECO), which is also partly Aboitiz-owned.

The Cebu-Negros-Panay grid has a total dependable capacity of about 976 MW. But demand, including the required spinning reserve of 180 MW, reaches nearly 1,100 MW. 

Cebu, which requires a total of over 500 MW daily this year, currently has a dependable capacity of less than 300 MW on its own. With the completion of the coal plants, Cebu would have sufficient power supply.

The supply situation is expected to stabilize early next year, when the first of the three 82-MW coal plants being built by Aboitiz Power and its partners under the Cebu Energy Development Corp. is completed. 

Co said although there would be additional supply from the new power plants here, demand is also expected to rise. Besides, clamor for power source from renewable energy is gaining strong interest from consumers. —Ehda M. Dagooc