BY ERWIN ‘AMBO’ DELILAN
THE RECENT typhoon “Maring” stirred anew power talks in Negros.
Embittered Negrenses once again harangued on Facebook (FB), lambasting electric coops (ECs) due to the series of brownouts that lasted for a couple of days.
But at the height of the typhoon, an FB-sponsored page (Albee Bantug Benitez “Its Time”) posted a press release (PR) dated Oct. 10, 2021 and entitled “Freedom from brownouts? Yes, please!”
The title alone brought power industry experts in Bacolod and NegOcc to hilarity. En toto, the content read: “Aspiring Bacolod City Mayor Alfredo ‘Albee’ Benitez’s vision to free Bacolod from frequent blackouts is real.”
And his solution is, tapping Negros’ renewable energy sources to complement the existing energy mix, the PR added.
“We are pushing for renewable energy. We can claim we have the most number of megawatts of renewable energy,” said Albee in the PR.
“Negros produces almost 600 megawatts, yet under-utilizing it because the consumption peak is at 350 megawatts only,” he furthered.
So shallow! It sounds good and romantic, but lacks wisdom, described by some Negros’ businessmen. Ergo, no one can ever sing hallelujah yet, they added.
Why?
Dictionary.com says wisdom is the knowledge of what is true or right coupled with just judgment as to action. So, let’s be candid. There’s no place in the country yet or even in the entire world which is brownout-free. But if it’s true that Albee can liberate Bacolod from brownouts, it’ll be history in the making. This is no ordinary feat, which is “swak” for Guinness World Records. Power consumers will gonna shout for joy. A flooding of investments in the city will follow soon.
3 MAJOR CONSIDERATIONS
Sn intelligent discussion on brownout(s) involves three major considerations – generation, transmission and distribution. Each of them has contributory factor(s) to brownout. But their common denominators are force majeure (acts of God) and the lack of power supply.
In my more than eight years in the power industry – both in the generation and distribution entities – somehow, I also learned some of the basics in the industry.
For generation, the causers of the brownout are:
* preventive maintenance
* emergency shutdown
* grid disturbance
For transmission:
* tower bombings
* right-of-way woe
* dilapidated towers
* vehicular accident(s) that could damage pools and towers
* animals like snakes, birds, geckos (tuko), others that can cause short circuit
* digging or excavation that can damage underground cables
For distribution:
* dilapidated lines and transformers
* ageing power sub-stations
* deficiency in physical facilities like meters, circuit breakers and reclosers
* animals, too
* kites (borador)
* line faults
* ground faults
* anything that touches the power lines, especially trees
Fleetingly, brownout – in all aspects – is inevitable. That’s why there are scheduled and unscheduled brownouts.
RENEWABLE
Yes, Negros is “blessed” with renewable energy (RE) sources. Cadiz City is host to the largest solar farm in Southeast Asia and seventh largest in the world. It has a 132.5-megawatt (MW) capacity.
Blueleaf Energy (BE) also has a 25-MW solar farm in Silay City.
Valencia town in the Oriental side is home to a 125-MW geothermal power plant by the Lopez-led Energy Development Corporation (EDC). But half of its steam (power) production had already been consigned to Cebu’s distribution utilities (DUs).
Lucio Tan’s business conglomerate has also this 40-MW biomass power plant within the Victorias Milling Company (VMC) mill site in Victorias City. But per information, such only generates around 10-MW.
Talisay City’s First Farmers Holdings (FFH) is also producing clean electricity via its 30-MW biomass plant.
The Gokongweis’ Universal Robina Corporation (URC) has this 46-MW biomass power plant located at Sonedco Central in Kabankalan City.
But these biomass plants, according to my reliable sources, still have problems with their permits. They’ve encountered “mess” in securing their environmental compliance certificates (ECCs) from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
Worse, the Sy-led National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) still has no available transmission lines for biomass power. In short, NGCP can’t transmit biomass power to its central point in Western Visayas, which is Panay.
My sources stress, these are the reasons why the three electric coops in the province still have no bilateral contracts with these RE generators because of the reliability and sustainability issues. And this is the “sourest” reality that Negrosanons need to swallow.
UNDEPENDABLE
Yes, RE sources are environment-friendly. But sustainability-wise, they are all “undependable”. Solar farms need sun. When it rains, solar’s inutile. So, an intermittent supply is the factual problem.
But since solar farms are (just) being paid by the power consumers all over the country through Department of Energy’s (DOE) feed in tariff (FIT), so they’re just there.
FIT is a policy designed by the government to support development of RE sources. So, whether these solar farms’ outputs are of use or not, it’s immaterial, laments Carbon. On the other hand, biomass’ viability is just good during milling season only.
BASE-LOAD POWER
Thus, Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MBCCI) chair Frank Carbon is now “whistling”.
“It’s now high-time for the province to have at least 3×150-MW base-load power plants available 24/7.”
Negros’ and Bacolod’s current power consumption, he notes, is estimated at 300-MW to 360-MW during peak hours.
But Carbon reiterates that the (only) available island-generated (sustainable) power is just 65-MW. It’s the 50 percent of the total current capacity of EDC in Valencia town or “sobra lang sang ila na-kontrata sa taga-Cebu.”
“So, we need now an additional of a 300-MW for peak demand and another 150-MW as reserved for forced outages.”
Thus, Carbon believes that it’s a necessity now for both the DOE and Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to come to the island. Then, compel the five DUs – three in the Occidental and two in the Oriental – to aggregate their total power requirements. And if possible, issue a Certificate for Energy Project of National Significance (CEPNS) to any proposed base-load power project in the island.
If not, Negros and Bacolod, amid rapid economic growth, will suffer from tremendous scarcity of power supply soonest, Carbon warns.
But unknown to some, there were already several attempts to construct coal-fired power plants in the province. First was in Sipalay-Cauayan area, but it wasn’t realized due to insurgency concern.
There was another one in Cadiz but this was also hampered by the alleged internal squabble between foreign and local investors.
There was also a proposed 300-MW coal-fired power plant in San Carlos City. The proponent was San Miguel Corporation Global Power Holdings, Inc. (SMCGPHI). Sad to say, it was dropped due to a plangent objection from civil society led by the Archdiocese of San Carlos. There’s a new plan, however, for a 2×150-MW natural gas plant by the SMCGPHI. Hence, Carbon is crossing his fingers for the realization of this project.
TECHNICAL AROUSAL
Succinctly, power talks are no ordinary parleys. Every time we engage in a power argument, we do need industry experts for us to have “technical arousal”. Let’s not simply rely on our own generic understanding, calculation and interpretation. It’s quite “dangerous”.
Likewise, let’s be conscious and cautious enough in dispensing political PR. Make sure that the content must (always) be true and relatable. People nowadays are bolder and smarter. So write it better to become believable.
Or be wary always as to the detrimental effects of the so-called “PR boomerang”./PN
