Power situation remains critical

CEBU, Philippines - The power situation in Cebu remains critical as there remains no surplus.

Ethel Natera spokesperson of Visayan Electric Company (VECO) said that the supply is just enough for the demand of their consumers.

“We cannot tell until when are we going to experience power outage”, Natera said.

 “The power supply remains critical. VECO is just a distribution company and we also rely from the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP),” said Natera.

Yesterday, two power plants suddenly tripped off causing power supply shortages in different areas in Cebu, but one supplier was back online shortly after the outage.

According to Belinda Canlas, spokesperson of NGCP, the Palimpinon Geothermal Power Plant 2 Sogongon Unit 2 tripped yesterday afternoon, but was restored less than an hour later.

The tripping also resulted to the load curtailment in Cebu causing power outages in the Talamban and Bacayan areas going to mountain barangays of Cebu City.

Normal power supply was restored at 2:30 p.m.

Cebu has been experiencing rotating brownouts due to the insufficiency of the power supply from the Cebu-Negros-Panay grid.

More rotating brownouts are expected this December since power demand is expected to rise, but not the supply.

The Department of Energy-7 has also earlier stated that they have considered the situation in Cebu as critical as there have been more brownouts this year compared to the previous year.

DOE-7 Regional Director Antonio Labios said that the situation has been critical starting February.

He cited that the total power available is 1,140 MW but the demand during peak hours is 1,174MW.

The Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) has already expressed concern about the power situation.

Carlos Co, the chairman on the committee on power of CCCI, said in a previous interview that the power supply is definitely one of the concerns of potential investors.

Co said that they have already explained to their members, especially to the small players the need to be ready. He said that they were warned already of the situation but the small companies do not have the power generation capacity. – Johanna Natavio and AJ de la Torre/NLQ