The Department of Energy (DOE) anticipates the completion by the end of the month the upgrade of the Cebu-Negros-Panay transmission and the maintenance works for Palm Concepcion Power Corp.’s (PCPC) coal-fired power plant in Iloilo
The DOE said the power situation in the island will soon improve.
The DOE said generators, distribution utilities, and the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) should continue their cooperation in maintaining the grid’s stability and quickly recover from any power interruption.
The agency said Panay Island is powered by four large coal power plants with a total capacity of 451 megawatts (MW) and nine smaller diesel/bunker and renewables with a total capacity of 220.3 MW.
Aside from generators on the island, 180 MW can be drawn from Negros to Panay
through a submarine cable.
DOE said Panay Island’s total power demand is currently below 400 MW.
The agency added short-term solutions conducted by NGCP includethe use of 10 percent head room of large coal plants as contingency reserve, Long-term solutions in the pipeline are the energization of several renewable and conventional power plants as well as the completion of other transmission projects to support the power generation projects and the growth of the load centers. -Jed Macapagal
