Rotating blackouts to stay in Metro Cebu

CEBU, Philippines – Metro Cebu will continue experiencing rotating blackouts, a regional official of the Department of Energy (DOE) said.

Engineer Rey Maliza, supervisor of DOE-7, told reporters after briefing the provincial board on Cebu’s power situation that the power supply in Metro Cebu is short of 72 megawatts at present, thus the rotating power outages are expected to continue.

Maliza said it is ideal for the power industry to have a reserve to keep the power supply stable in case a power plant shuts down.

He said no power plant has reportedly been utilized since 2001 to answer the power needs especially in Metro Cebu.

Maliza believes there is a need for more power plants in the province to cope with the power shortage in the next five years.

Although the two 84-megawatt coal-fired power plants in Toledo City have been tested, they still cannot supply power to the grid because they have yet to be turned over by the contractor, Formosa Heavy Industries Inc., to the Cebu Energy Development Corp.

The power plant in Naga City is not yet operational. For its part, Visayan Electric Co. is now intensifying its campaign on power conservation.