• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The Department of Energy (DOE) has acknowledged that the Visayas does not have enough baseload generation to meet growing electricity demand, leaving the region vulnerable to recurring power alerts whenever a major generating plant goes offline.
Energy Secretary Sharon Garin made the admission during the joint hearing of the House Committees on Energy, Visayas Development, and Legislative Franchises in Bacolod City on Oct. 3, where lawmakers pressed energy officials over the region’s continuing supply problems.
“If we look at Visayas on island assessment… may kulang talagang baseload sa Visayas,” Garin told lawmakers.
She explained that while Negros can produce excess electricity during the daytime, much of the surplus comes from solar plants, whose output drops as evening demand peaks.
“Negros alone cannot survive because there is not enough baseload,” Garin said.
She also warned that an outage in Panay could immediately affect Negros because of the islands’ dependence on interconnection.
“We’ve been trying to assess how do we make it independent bago pa mag-alerts,” she said.
Garin said the government needs additional generation capacity to close the supply gap, but new projects will take time to come online.
She warned that the Visayas could continue experiencing grid alerts until additional capacity becomes available, potentially extending the supply problem until 2028.
“Isang power plant lang mawawala, mag-alert ulit tayo and that is not good for business,” Garin said.
She also cited Cebu’s rapidly expanding electricity demand, which she said is outpacing the delivery of new generation projects.
“Cebu is growing exponentially and projects are not keeping up with the demand. We have to catch up. We still have time to catch up,” Garin said.
House Energy Committee chair Palawan Second District Rep. Jose Alvarez questioned why the Visayas continues to experience power alerts despite the interconnection of the Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao grids.
“Lahat ng Visayas grid connected, okay na rin ang grid connecting from Mindanao and Luzon to Visayas,” Alvarez said.
He noted that several power plants had simultaneously shut down, contributing to the supply crisis.
“Pero ganito pa rin kasi nga nagkaroon ng problema kasi sabay-sabay nawala lahat ng power plants,” he said.
Alvarez also asked why excess electricity from Luzon and Mindanao could not immediately be delivered to the Visayas whenever available.
Garin said the transmission grid itself was functioning, but Mindanao was also experiencing generation problems and had entered a red alert period.
“The grid is functioning naman,” Garin said.
She explained that the simultaneous unavailability of generating units in different areas reduced the amount of power that could be supplied to the Visayas despite the existing interconnection.
As a near-term measure, Garin said the DOE is turning to battery energy storage systems to help bridge the gap between daytime excess generation and evening peak demand.
She said the DOE had asked the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) to contract battery storage facilities as early as May.
The batteries could store excess electricity generated during the day, particularly from solar facilities, and discharge it when demand rises in the evening.
“Kasi yung Visayas may excess sila, puwede itago sa batteries,” Garin said. | GPB
