No more rotational brownouts in Cebu, but Visayas grid lacks power reserves – DOE

Residents and traders in Cebu got relief Thursday from rotational brownouts stemming from the lack of power supply in the Visayas grid after the KEPCO-SPC power plant in Naga City was damaged by a fire over the weekend.

 

The Department of Energy said there would be no more rotational brownouts as one of KEPCO-SPC's Naga City plants supplied 100 megawatts to the Visayas grid, GMA Cebu's Vic Serna reported.

 

However, DOE Visayas' Rey Maleza said the power reserves in the Visayas grid remained negative as of Thursday.

 

As of 1 p.m. Thursday, the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines pegged the power reserves of the Visayas grid at -182 megawatts.

 

On Monday morning, the Visayan Electric Co. started implementing rotational brownouts after demand peaked at 450 megawatts in the Visayan Electric Company's franchise area.

 

Last Saturday, a fire damaged a portion of the KEPCO-SPC plant in Naga City. This prompted KEPCO-SPC to implement an early preventive maintenance on its Plant 2 - a procedure that could take 23 days.

 

The company said it will speed up the repair of the coal conveyor system damaged by the fire, so Plant 1 can get back online soonest.

 

The Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry said the brownouts had affected members' operations. Its members asked power utilities to issue advisories early so they can prepare for outages. — Joel Locsin/JDS, GMA News