BY GEROME DALIPE IV
ILOILO City – Will Panay Island and the rest of Western Visayas no longer experience power outages?
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will lead today the ceremonial energization of the 230 kilovolt (kV) Cebu-Negros-Panay (CNP) backbone project stage 3 in Negros Occidental.
The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) finally completed the backbone project on March 27. This means the entire backbone project in Visayas is now running at full capacity.
With the completion of the CNP backbone project, ancillary services or standby reserve of NGCP for the Visayas from Cebu may now be augmented in Panay to prevent blackouts due to the absence of an alternate grid connection in Panay Island.
Interviewed by reporters during the Philippine Electric Power Industry Forum at the Iloilo Convention Center recently, Energy Undersecretary Rowena Cristina Guevara confirmed that the CNP had fully kicked off its operations on March 27, four days earlier than the final deadline set.
“The important thing about the completion of the CNP backbone at 230KV is that there are now two possible routes to go to secluded islands. We used to have only one connection,” Guevara told reporters.
For his part, Mayor Jerry Treñas said Iloilo City is benefiting from the backbone project. He is attending today’s ceremonial energization.
“They have already completed it and we are already using it, and we’re very happy with that,” said Treñas.
He added: “It has been delayed so many administrations ago, but it finally happened and it’s continuously being improved.”
Treñas said local businesses in Panay Island suffered about P500 million in losses daily due to the massive blackout in January.
The city and provincial government units are set to file a joint complaint with NGCP in a bid to recover the damages caused by the four-day blackout that hit Panay Island and the rest of Western Visayas.
The city government pegged the losses at P1.5 billion while the provincial government lost about P3.5 billion during the three-day power outage.
Panay Island is powered by four large coal power plants with a total capacity of 451 megawatts (MW) and nine smaller diesel/bunkers and renewable with a total capacity of 220.3 MW.
The large coal power plants consist of three units of Panay Energy Development Corporation (PEDC) and one unit of Palm Concepcion Power Corporation (PCPC).
Aside from generators on the island, 180 MW can be drawn from Negros to Panay through a submarine cable. The total demand for Panay Island is below 400 MW.
But PCPC has shut down its 135-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Concepcion, Iloilo for a preventive maintenance system (PMS).
The maintenance of the 135-MW circulating fluidized bed combustion (CFBC) power plant has started from Feb. 18 until March 30, 2024.
The plant was scheduled for maintenance to perform a “major overhaul of the turbine and generator.”
The long-delayed completion of the CNP backbone project limits the capacity of power import of Panay from Negros Grid thru the existing 138kV Negros-Panay submarine cable resulting in the long duration of Panay Grid blackout.
But with the completion of the CNP backbone project, ancillary services or standby reserve of NGCP for the Visayas from Cebu may now be augmented in Panay to prevent blackout.
The CNP backbone is seen to improve the resilience of the Visayas grid by providing alternative transmission routes. This can help reduce the impact of disruptions such as typhoons or equipment failures.
The completion of the CNP backbone will enable more efficient exchange of power between Cebu, Negros, and Panay. It will help balance supply and demand in the region, leading to more stable electricity prices.
The CNP backbone also aims to facilitate the integration of renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar power, into the Visayas grid./PN
