Local think tank Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (ICSC) is calling for a re-evaluation of Panay Island’s energy mix and grid resilience following the island-wide power interruption that occurred last week.
The group in a statement also said the Panay Island blackouts underscore the urgent need for more distributed and flexible power generation in the country.
ICSS proposed several measures: exploring advanced energy storage technologies, enhancing grid interconnections and strategically integrating renewable energy sources to diversify the island’s energy portfolio.
ICSC said there is also a need for more granular monitoring of reserve requirements per sub-grid, especially in Visayas, where each island exhibits a distinct energy mix and infrastructure conditions.
At present, power reserves are being grouped per island cluster of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao and not in a more specific division.
ICSC said during the power interruption incident last week, a yellow alert status was raised instead over the Visayas grid “and the nuances in the operation of the Panay sub-grid, being the tail-end of the network, were overlooked” even if a red alert is already warranted.
Yellow alerts are issued when the level of power reserve in the grid is low while red alerts are declared when actual power supply against demand is insufficient and power interruptions are imminent.
“Since (Panay) island is heavily dependent on a few centralized coal-fired power plants, any disturbance can have disastrous effects on the entire sub-grid. Generation and grid planning must evolve to embrace more distributed sources to ensure grid stability, reducing reliance on a few power plants,” the group said.
ICSC said this will make the Panay Island grid more resilient and less susceptible to single-point failures and adaptable to variable demand conditions apart from employing a more diverse mix of energy sources.