By EUGENE ADIONG
BACOLOD City — Electric cooperatives in Negros Occidental are preparing for a possible power shortage in the Visayas grid.
Visayas may suffer from at least 200 megawatts of power shortage this week, according to a report by the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP).
As of 6 a.m. yesterday, NGCP reported a system capacity of 1,477 megawatts (MW) for Visayas and a higher system peak of 1,522 MW with zero reserve.
The Central Negros Electric Cooperative (Ceneco) will implement rotational brownouts in case NGCP sees a drop in the region’s power supply, its general manager, Sulpicio Lagarde, told Panay News yesterday.
On Monday, NGCP “did not implement any brownout … but issued a warning to all electric cooperatives in Visayas [about] the power situation,” Lagarde said.
Breakdowns in three power plants in Visayas may cause the power shortage, he said.
He said these plants are Cebu Electric Development Corp. (maximum capacity: 150 MW), a portion of the Tongonon, Leyte, power plant (35 MW), and the Panay Electric Development Corp. (182 MW).
In case of a supply shortage, the Visayas grid will automatically source power from the Luzon grid, said Lagarde. “Normally, it is the Visayas grid that provides power to (the) Luzon (grid) in case of a power deficit,” he said.
For his part, Dan Pondevilla, acting general manager of the Victorias-Manapla-Cadiz Rural Electric Cooperative (Vresco), said in a text message, “We have not yet received any notice from NGCP” about the possible power shortage.
But if there is a supply shortage, Vresco will implement “alternate outage for each city and municipality para indi matam-an ang isa ka lugar (so that not one area will bear the brunt),” Pondevilla said.
Lagarde appealed to Ceneco consumer-members for understanding.
Any problem with the power source and transmission lines is beyond the control of the power distribution facility, he said.
Lagarde also encouraged them to save electricity./PN
