AS ILOILO continues to watch the ongoing legal battles between More Electric and Power Corp., and Panay Electric Co., we should put the issue on a much broader context. There’s no doubt that Iloilo’s power grid is woefully out of date. One only needs to look at some of the province’s older power lines to see that Iloilo’s power grid is quite out of date.
So whether you favor More or PECO, we should at least agree that Iloilo needs to upgrade its electrical system, and it needs to do so fast. The city is getting a lot of investment in tourism and various service industries, and the province’s public utilities certainly need to keep up.
However, there’s another reason why Iloilo should modernize its power grid: Automation.
Energy production is no longer just about producing electricity and delivering it from point A to point B. In the next few years, it will also involve AI, machine learning and special algorithms designed to optimize power production/consumption.
In fact, power system automation and ‘smart grids’ are now a thing in many developed countries, and they are only likely to get more complex in the years to come. These technologies don’t just control power distribution, they also influence the way people think about power. Furthermore, automation of power supplies also increase connectivity (and vulnerability) of local power grid with international supply chains. So even though the technology is improving, the supply chains are also becoming more and more vulnerable to disruption.
The bottom line here is, we are entering a world where electrical production/distribution is controlled by AI and machine learning. This world will be more complex, more automated and more vulnerable – at least according to certain experts.
Now, compare that with our existing energy infrastructure. Panay’s power grid (and most other public utilities) are stuck in limbo, even though the rest of the Province is attracting more and more investment and capital. So to go back to my original point, regardless of how each of us feels about the More/PECO dispute, we should all at least agree that Iloilo’s power grid needs to be upgraded and fast./PN
