Visayas has enough power for summer

CEBU, Philippines - An upsurge in the demand for power is expected come summer months, but there is ample power supply for Visayas, including Cebu, the Department of Energy-7 assured during a power sector meeting at the Capitol yesterday.

DOE-7 director Antonio Labios explained that electricity demand peaks during the dry season because people tend to stay at home and use high energy-consuming appliances like air conditioners.

As for power reserves, however, Labios said the region does not have that much.

“If there will be no major power plant nga maguba, normal ang operation. We have sufficient supply. Naa pod ta’y reserved pero gamay-gamay,” he told reporters.

Labios reported that Visayas grid is currently in “yellow” alert status, a condition when the power generation reserve is in a thin level.

For this week, the Visayas has 40 to 80 megawatts reserve. In normal days, power reserves usually increase during weekends and holidays, when power demand is lower.

In a separate interview, Abner Bardoquillo, head of network operations division of National Grid Corporation of the Philippines-Visayas Power Center, made it clear that this condition of thin reserves would not mean power outages.

“If we have reserve then there is no brownout. But if you have deficit, duna gyu’y brownouts,” he said.

Further, the DOE reminded consumers to conserve energy by unplugging appliances when not in use.

“Regardless og naa’y surplus or wala, energy conservation gyud ta,” Labios said.

For its part, the Visayan Electric Company will continue with its energy conservation campaign dubbed as Cebu Unplugged this March.

Currently, the power demand during peak hours, which is from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., is 1,462 megawatts.

For Cebu alone, the power demand yesterday spiked as high as 728 megawatts from its 407-megawatt available capacity, leaving a deficiency of 321 megawatts.

“But we have 400 megawatts available from Leyte,” Labios said.

Cebu Governor Hilario Davide III convened the power sector yesterday to ask for updates on the power situation outlook for summer and the blackout experienced by some parts of Cebu last week.

The NGCP reported during the meeting that an explosion occurred in the substation in the City of Naga, resulting to the power outage.

Bardoquillo said they are still looking into the cause of the explosion and coming up with solutions to prevent the recurrence in the future.  (FREEMAN)