Bohol looks for other power sources

TAGBILARAN CITY , Philippines   â€” Technical groups from the power sector in Bohol have been exploring for other sources of power to free itself from dependence of the Leyte grid.

Governor Edgar Chatto said said his province may go for renewable energies, like hydro and solar power, as the technical groups are now wary over the impact of coal power to the environment, even if some experts asserted that "there is such a thing as clean coal."

As of now, the provincial government is working on ways to utilize other sources of power for Boholanos in the future.

The domestic power sources under the One Bohol Power Supply project might even generate excess power, which however can be passed on to the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) for transmission to other distributors.

The power supply problem in Bohol became evident last week, when the entire province experienced blackout after the Ormoc-Maasin's 138-kV line tripped.

Then last Wednesday, the province again fell into blackout from morning until 3 p.m. when the 69-kV Leyte-Ubay transmission line was affected by the tripping of the Ormoc-Maasin line, as confirmed by NGCP in its advisory.

The NGCP eventually restored power transmission services to Bohol Electric Cooperative (Boheco) I, Boheco II and Bohol Light Company, Inc. by early afternoon, after re-energizing the Ormoc-Maasin line at 12:19 p.m., and the Maasin-Ubay line at 1:48 p.m.

On Friday, the Ormoc-Maasin line tripped again at 7:45 p.m. when typhoon Basyang headed for the province, resulting in a second blackout in the same week.

While figuring out what caused the tripping, the NGCP again issued an advisory about the power interruption in parts of Southern Leyte, Leyte and Bohol.

Towards midnight, NGCP had to defer the patrol along the Ormoc-Maasin 136-kV line due to bad weather, but was able to fix the problem by early morning of Saturday, restoring power transmission to electric coops in the affected provinces.

Right after the Wednesday blackout, Chatto immediately got the official report from NGCP and he contacted Energy Sec. Jericho Petilla via cellphone, expressing his concern over the dire effects to the province the power interruption could bring.

Petilla admitted then that the heavy rain and the wind made it difficult for NGCP to undertake immediate restoration, said Chatto, adding that Petilla however assured him that Bohol has enough power supply, which can only be disrupted when transmission lines encounter problems. (FREEMAN)