BY ERWIN ‘AMBO’ DELILAN
I HAVE been in the power industry for the past 11 years.
But the latest story on grid disturbance characterized by recent advisories re: red and yellow alert status in Luzon and Visayas, respectively, pushed me to learn more about brownouts.
It cannot be denied that with the alert status, Negrenses, especially businessmen, are a bit worried about rotating brownouts or worse, total blackout.
Here come the 64-dollar questions: What’ s wrong? Who’s to be blamed? Where’s the Department of Energy (DOE)?
FUNNY, CRAZY
Let it be known that the very reason there’s this red or yellow alert status on the grid is because 32 power generating power plants – 19 in Luzon and 13 in Visayas – simultaneously made a forced outage or suspended their operations.
Then, there are other plants operating at de-rated capacities.
These facts laid down by the Sy-led National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), however, raised the eyebrows of businessmen in Bacolod and Negros Occidental.
Sir Frank Carbon, chief executive officer of the Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MBCCI), has this simple question: What are these power plants and where are they located?
Yes, simple questions but weighty.
Did the DOE know this?
If it knew about this, why did it allow this to happen – the simultaneously shutdown.
‘PUNCHING BAGS’
Power consumers traditionally blame either NCGP or the distribution utilities (DUs) every time there’s a brownout. This, as either NGCP or a concerned DU is fronting via public advisories re: brownout. Both, therefore, for the longest time, were the “punching bags” of angry consumers.
Pity the NGCP and DUs, however.
Let’s be specific; NGCP’s main task is to transmit power from the grid to DUs.
DUs then are bound to distribute power going to the households or business establishments.
But how will NGCP transmit power via its formidable state-of-the art transmission facilities if there is no power produced by the generating plants?
People should understand the intricacy of the issues behind the power business.
The power(ful) trio – generation, transmission and distribution – must coordinate with one another for a seamless power service.
When one becomes “stray”, the remaining two will be hauled to a pitiable situation when power consumers “go wild and rabid” over any blackout scenario.
‘WHITE ELEPHANTS’
Yes, it’s undeniable that NGCP now has dependable transmission facilities from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. Its newest “ambitious” Mindanao-Visayas Interconnectivity Project (MVIP) and the P67-B Cebu-Negros-Panay (CNP) backbone project are no nonsense. They’re superb.
But how can they be of good use if there are no or less generating plants producing power?
Worse, they can be simply billed “high class white elephants” the country ever had. A waste of money, therefore.
Now, where’s DOE to address the current power woes in Luzon and Visayas?
Sir Frank has a point. Why 32 in one day?
‘POWER MAFIA’
Really, it’s bad to say or allege that there’s an existing “power mafia” in the country. But with the recent news about the grid’s red and yellow alert status, nasty suspicions are inevitable.
DOE, therefore, has a tall challenge to act now to dispel rumors of a “mafia” in the power industry.
Sad and bad!/PN
