DOE: Power industry ‘working together’ to avoid ‘dark Christmas’

Local

AS FAMILIES in Cebu begin putting up Christmas lights and decorations for the coming holiday season, parts of the island are still experiencing rotational brownouts amid a worsening power supply shortage.

The contrast has raised concerns that Cebu could face a “dark Christmas” if the power situation is not stabilized before the holidays.

The Department of Energy (DOE), however, expects the Visayas power situation to improve by October as government agencies and power industry players work on measures to address the shortage.

DOE Visayas Director Renante Sevilla said the agency is working on both immediate and long term measures to stabilize the grid.

“We're really hoping that dili maabot anang dark Christmas,” Sevilla said, adding that government and industry players are “really working together.”

The worsening situation has been driven by multiple power plant outages, reduced generating capacity and limited power imports from Mindanao, tightening the supply available to the Visayas grid.

National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) Assistant Vice President and head of System Operations Visayas Engr. Neil Modena said demand across the Visayas had reached about 2,700 megawatts, with Cebu accounting for

roughly half at about 1,350 MW.

The Visayas recorded a peak demand of about 2,300 MW in January, while the highest peak this year reached around 2,700 MW on May 14.

Cebu's own generating facilities can produce only about 900 MW against demand of roughly 1,300 MW, leaving the province dependent on power from Mindanao and neighboring areas.

Under normal conditions, the Visayas receives about 250 MW from Luzon and 450 MW from Mindanao. But Mindanao has also been dealing with tight supply because of outages at its own power plants, limiting the electricity it can send to the Visayas.

Modena said NGCP has been managing the limited supply among distribution utilities to prevent the transmission system from becoming overloaded.

“Para na manage namo ang supply ug demand, dili ma blackout, manangtang gud mi og load,” Modena said.

The resulting load reductions have caused rotational brownouts in parts of Cebu. On Sept. 3, Visayan Electric Co. (VECO) removed about 130 MW of load, with some areas experiencing interruptions of around two hours.

VECO said interruptions normally last about an hour but can be extended when NGCP requires a larger load reduction. Critical feeders serving hospitals and other essential facilities are excluded from the rotating interruptions.

The latest NGCP advisory on Monday, Sept. 7, showed a red alert from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., with yellow alerts from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

The grid had an available capacity of 2,530 MW against a peak demand of 2,508 MW.

NGCP said 818.9 MW remained unavailable to the grid because of forced outages and derated capacities.

The factors cited included the unavailability of TVI Unit 1 and PEDC Unit 3, the derated 146.2 MW capacity of TVI Unit 2 due to a main steam problem, and limited power imports from Mindanao.

To ease the immediate shortage, the DOE is working to bring in two power barges from Luzon within September, with one intended for Cebu and the other for Panay.

Sevilla said they are pursuing additional ancillary services and battery energy storage systems as stopgap measures. Sevilla said negotiations are underway for a BESS connected to the transmission grid that could provide about 250 MW of additional capacity.

Around 170 MW of battery storage capacity is also being deployed in Cebu, Negros and Panay, along with a planned 20 MW modular diesel generating set.

Longer term measures include additional generation capacity in Cebu, including the P7.5 billion, 150 MW Daanbantayan Solar Project, and the redevelopment of the Alegria oil and gas field.

The DOE is also pressing NGCP to expedite the connection and energization of battery energy storage systems across the Visayas.

The 103 MW Kepco SPC Power Corp. facility in Naga was fully restored earlier in the week. TVI Unit 1, with about 169 MW capacity, was expected to return by Sept. 11.

Last week, Cebu Gov. Pamela Baricuatro signed two executive orders aimed at addressing the province's continuing electricity supply problems.

Executive Order (EO) No. 47 established the Takna Pagpawong Sa Suga (TAPS) Program, requiring provincial government facilities to observe a weekly energy reduction hour every Monday from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Baricuatro also signed EO No. 48 creating a Composite Technical Working Group to oversee the transition of the province's interim power generation operations in Malapascua Island to a permanent power provider.

The group will assess the island's existing generation system and equipment, evaluate potential successor operators and prepare a transition plan intended to prevent unnecessary interruptions in electricity service.(MyTVCebu)