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Friday, May 09, 2008
Negros, Panay power shortage 'acute': DOE
By Ma. Ester L. Espina and Erwin Ambo S. Delilan
TALISAY CITY -- Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes advised Negros and Panay officials to consider self-sufficiency in its power supply to avert the looming power crisis as the present power shortage problem has reached to an acute level.
He also urged stakeholders to encourage private sector investment in power plants in Negros and Panay during Wednesday's Energy Summit at Nature's Restaurant in Bacolod City.
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Negros is currently experiencing a deficit of 31 megawatts at peak hours, while Panay needs an additional 30.6 megawatts (MWs). This problem occurs despite attempts to transfer maximum power to these areas out of the surplus from Leyte's power source.
The Negros power demand now reaches 197 MWs, while its present dependable capacity is only 175.5 MWs.
For Panay, the power demand is 189 MWs but its dependable capacity is only 127.3 MWs.
Department of Energy's (DOE) monitoring also showed that for the months of March and April, Negros and Panay experienced power outages for 13 and 23 days, respectively, due to maintenance works of the Palinpinon Geothermal Plant.
Reyes said he is looking forward to a future when people in the Visayas would have brownout-free days, but only if the stakeholders would work together and "ensure that we have an investment-friendly atmosphere to encourage investors to come in and set up power plants to answer our needs."
He also stressed that the generation capacity of the Visayas Grid now is not enough to meet the increasing power demand, which is six percent versus four percent per annum.
According to Reyes, there are no additional power plants being constructed because the government can only do so much since the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 (Epira) has outlawed the putting up of new plants.
While there have been private sector-initiated proposals to set up power plants in Negros and Panay, the local opposition has reportedly scared them, resulting to the current "power crisis" these areas are experiencing and which is seen to worsen in a couple of years.
"Environmental concerns and Nimby (not in my own backyard) mentality against power projects could have prevented the current power shortage," Reyes said, referring to the strong opposition against the proposed Pulupandan Coal-fired power plant in 2001 and the Kepco coal plant in Panay in 2003, both of which could have provided 100 and 200 megawatts, respectively.
With the scheduled maintenance shutdowns of Visayas base load plant units, particularly that of the Leyte and Tongonan geothermal plants, the Cebu coal thermal plant, and the Palinpinon and Northern Negros geothermal plants, power supply shortage in Negros and Panay is expected to worsen if no immediate solution would be arrived at.
DOE warned that power shortage will have tremendous effect on the country's economy, quoting estimates from the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda), which said power problem in the 90s ranged from P20-P25 billion in nominal terms or 1.3 to 1.6 percent of the Gross Domestic Products (GDP).
National Transmission Corporation (Transco) President Art Aguilar meantime explained that while the Leyte source may have a surplus of 360 megawatts, which is more than enough to sustain the needs of Cebu, Negros and Panay, "there is a limit to how much you can transmit to these areas even if Leyte doubles its capacity through sheer law of physics."
"Exporting power through the lines reaching the end of Panay is limited, thus the need to set up your own power generating plants in the area," Aguilar added.
Reyes, on the other hand, said there is a need to balance everything, referring to opposition against coal-fired power plants and the recent request of Philippine National Oil Company-Energy Development Corp. (PNOC-EDC) to expand their geothermal development.
"While we would all want to protect the environment foremost, the cost of not having enough power is a lot more," he said.
He added that he will be back in Bacolod City Monday, together with the PNOC-EDC and Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) officials, to present solutions and programs that would address the strong reservations of Bacolod Bishop Vicente Navarra, against the expansion development of PNOC at the buffer zone in the Mount Kanlaon National Park.
Reyes was late in going to the summit, keeping local officials, business leaders and heads of electric coops, waiting for him for about one and half hours. He said he had an audience with the Bishop in Bacolod, which he described as "cordial and warm." (Sun.Star Bacolod/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro. (May 9, 2008 issue)
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