Energy dep’t told to solve power crisis in Panay at once

BOHOL, Philippines - President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Tuesday directed the Energy Department to come up with short-term measures that will address the power shortage being experienced in Panay, berating the Energy department for offering long-term solutions. "What we need are steps to address the power shortage in Panay. I am referring to the situation now and not the long term," she said in exasperation after Energy Sec. Angelo T. Reyes presented to her long-term measures designed to ensure enough power. In a presentation, Mr. Reyes said the dependable capacity in Panay is 127.3 megawatts (MW), lower than the demand which is 189 MW. The province imports 55 MW from Negros, leaving a deficit of 6.7 MW. The Energy Department has warned that Visayas and Mindanao will experience power shortages in 2009 if no new power plant would be established. Mr. Reyes said local governments must be aggressive in attracting investors but Mrs. Arroyo said new plants to be established will not yet be operational during the critical period of 2009. The Energy Chief said his agency will find ways to rehabilitate power barges of the National Power Corp. to maximize their power production. Mr. Reyes also vowed to promote an energy conservation campaign in Panay and to talk with companies like Victorias Milling Co., the Central Azucarera de La Carlota and Biscom, Inc. for possible co-generation of electricity. Earlier, officials said lights could go out in Cebu, Negros and Panay in the last quarter of the year because of an electricity shortage, but that this would be addressed by opening a wholesale electricity spot market for Visayas and a new rate scheme for a regional generator. But plans to open a spot market in the Visayas have been halted because of lack of competition. Longer-term recommendations include the migration towards a "smart" grid and transfer of a power barge from Davao to Panay. Crispin Lamayan, National Transmission Corp. assistant vice-president, told the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) last March that the island of Panay would bear the brunt of shortage. Mosses Red, in charge of dispatches at National Power Corp. (Napocor) Visayas, said power reserves in Cebu, Negros and Panay were already very thin. Demand is expected to rise next year, with no new sources in the pipeline, and the year after that. By 2010, peak demand is expected to be almost 900 MW, with an average dependable capacity of only 746 MW. In Metro Cebu — Liloan in the north to San Fernando in the south — the Visayan Electric Co. is projected to incur a deficit of at least 5 MW by September, rising to a little over 15 MW in 2009 and nearly 28 MW in 2010. Projects to tap new power sources include the exploration of the geothermal potential of Biliran in the Eastern Visayas and the optimization of the Palinpinon power complex in Negros Oriental. The power supply situation in Cebu, Negros and Panay is projected to stabilize in 2010 with the completion of the first of three 82-MW coal-fired plants being built by Cebu Energy Development Corp., a consortium made up of Global Business Power Corp., Formosa Heavy Industries and Abovant Holdings (a joint venture of Aboitiz Power Corp. and Vivant Corp.). The second and third units are scheduled to come onstream in June and September 2010. KEPCO-SPC Power Corp. is also targetting the completion of two 100-MW coal-fired plants in Naga by 2011. - BusinessWorld