Adequate power supply assured during barangay, SK elections

CEBU, Philippines - There shall be adequate power supply for tomorrow’s Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections nationwide, assured the Department of Energy and the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines.

Cebu provincial election supervisor Lionel Marco Castillano shared this advisory with reporters yesterday.

“In preparation for Barangay and SK election, power supply adequate to meet demand for October 25-26, but low reserve,” the advisory reads.

And because tomorrow is also a holiday, the demand is expected to go down by 80 to 100 megawatts.

The Luzon submarine cable scheduled for preventive maintenance yesterday was moved to October 27, two days after the election. This means that the Luzon grid can supply Visayas (Leyte-Cebu-Negros-Panay) grid if there is deficit of up to 100 megawatts.

“As long as all power plants are operational, supply will be sufficient for October 25 elections,” the advisory reads further.

The NGCP will start its election watch today up to Tuesday.

Still, despite the assurance of power supply, Castillano advised everyone directly involved in the elections to bring flash lights, emergency lamps or standby generator sets during counting and canvassing.

In a separate interview, Jennifer de Jesus, NGCP head of public relations, said yesterday the Cebu-Negros-Panay grid continues to suffer generation deficiency, as three power plants were currently out of the grid aside from the 150 mw High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) that was shut down two days ago.

However, the HVDC is expected to be back online on October 25 and 26 in time for the elections before it undergoes another preventive maintenance on October 27 until 31, 2010.

The HVDC is the grid that connects power to Visayas from Luzon.

The Cebu Thermal Power Plant I in Naga, Cebu was shut down last Thursday due to some technical problems. It has a generation capacity of 50 megawatts.

Aside from the CTPP I, the 37 megawatt Palimpinon Geothermal Power Plant 2 in Leyte and the 77-megawatt EDC-Malitbog Unit 2 were also out of the grid.

De Jesus said the Visayas area sustained a power generation deficiency of 168 mw during peak hours due to lack of power supply.

Ethel Natera, spokesperson of the Visayan Electric Company (VECO) said they resorted to a one-hour rotation brownout in some areas in Mandaue and Cebu City.

The Cebu Utility Group, composed of utilities and telecommunication companies, is working closely with Comelec in the conduct of tomorrow’s polls. Castillano said it is the same team that made sure no brownouts occurred during the national elections last May 10 elections.   (THE FREEMAN NEWS)