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Wednesday, October 08, 2003
NPC needs $50M to rehabilitate old lines
By Jinny P. Abayon and Victor L. Camion
* More blackouts threaten Negros, Panay, Cebu
MORE power outages threaten Negros Island, Panay, and Cebu unless the National Power Corporation (Napocor) gets hold of US$50 million to rehabilitate its old mainlines, said Rodolfo C. Pacana, plant manager of the Palinpion Geothermal Power Plant (PGPP) in Puhagan, Valencia, Negros Oriental.
Pacana said this after a two-hour blackout plunged Negros island and Cebu into total darkness last September 30.
The power crises could be inevitable unless NPC rehabilitated its mainlines that have been operating for more than 20 years, the plant manager said.
In his report to Reynaldo J. Santiago, vice president for Napocor's Geothermal Operation based in Diliman, Quezon City, Pacana said the total plant tripping resulted from the automatic tripping of the Naga-Banilad Line 2 and 3 that occurred after NPC's insulator at Structure 33 in Sta. Lucia, Bulacao, Pardo, Cebu City broke.
The total plant tripping started at 3:32 late afternoon Tuesday and affected all power generating units of PGPP1 and PGPP2, except for PGPP1 Unit 1 that remained on house-load until 3:35 p.m.
Power resumed more than three hours later when the 1.25-megawatt engine at the Sogongon Modular Plant in Nasuji, Valencia fed power to the Palinpinon power generating units.
Pacana said the US$50 rehabilitation fund proposal was brought up during the power summit last July in Cebu City held to address the issues affecting the power situation in the Cebu-Negros-Panay (CNP) grid.
Unless the money is made available soon, the CNP grid will experience acute power shortage starting 2005.
The whole-day summit aimed to get the firm commitment of different sectors, including local governments, business groups, players in the power industry, non-government agencies, consumers and the media, on the possible solutions to the looming power supply shortage.
In a press statement during the summit, Department of Energy Secretary Vincent Perez said the government has laid down various solutions to avert the power shortage by fast-tracking the completion of several projects. However, the government cannot do it alone.
DOE projected that by December this year, the (CNP) grid will experience a supply shortfall of about 57 megawatts.
The next critical period, Secretary Perez said, is May and December 2004 when demand is seen to grow highest.
"We are urging all electricity consumers in the Visayas to already adopt energy conservation measures to forestall any serious impact of the power supply shortages," the DOE secretary said.
An additional supply of electricity is not seen coming until early next year with the completion of the 40-megawatt (mw) power plant of Mirant Philippines.
Three power projects, with a combined capacity of 111-mw, are also in the pipeline but these will be operational only by end of 2005.
These are the 20-mw Palinpinon and the 40-mw Northern Negros geothermal plants by the Philippine National Oil Co.-Energy Development Corp. and the 51-mw co-generation facility by the Victorias Energy.
At the same time, the transmission projects that will improve and augment the delivery of power supply in the Visayas are to be completed not later than 2005-2006.
The Leyte-Cebu Interconnection Uprating that will provide additional 200 mw to the Visayas system and the Panay Transmission backbone project will be finished in 2005 yet. The Negros-Panay Interconnection Uprating will be completed by 2006-2007.
"There is a compelling reason to act now," Perez said.
Given the interconnection of the grid, Panay is the worst hit because it is at the tail end of the power supply chain in the Visayas.
If Panay failed to attract enough attention, surely like an economic center like Cebu will not take any impending power crisis lightly. The government has raised alarm over Cebu, Negros and Panay areas, with reserve power allegedly going down to a critical 80 MW.
Panay's peak demand of 109 MW represents less than 1 percent (0.7%) of the country's 14,964 MW installed capacity as of 2002, and Panay can source power from the Visayas grid via Negros.
The island of Cebu has an installed capacity of 447.7 MW, of which
180 MW is taken from the Leyte geothermal fields. Of this total capacity,
73 percent, or 326 MW, is dependable.
Cebu, however, is left with a net capacity of only 367.7 MW as it transfers 80 MW to Negros Island.
Negros, on the other hand, has an installed capacity of 193 MW, of which only 95 percent or 184 MW is dependable. However, a maximum of 85 MW is exported to Panay.
Energy Secretary Perez earlier announced that he had directed the National Transmission Corp. to expedite the completion of the $36-million Negros-Panay submarine interconnection project and the $63-million Cebu-Negros interconnection project.
(October 5, 2003 issue)
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