NGCP told to address power problem in Visayas

CEBU – President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has ordered the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) to immediately address the power problem in Western Visayas, according to Iloilo Governor Arthur Defensor Jr.

Defensor said Marcos relayed the instructions through Energy Secretary Raphael Perpetuo Lotilla. He also quoted Lotilla as saying that Marcos has given instructions for the NGCP to be transparent to stakeholders and that the Energy Regulatory Commission should be updated on the status of the Visayas grid.

Marcos also wanted to synchronize the protection relay of the distribution, generation, and transmission to protect the system. The NGCP has to fast-track the filing and approval of pending Ancillary Services Procurement Agreement that supports the transmission of power from generators to consumers, and always watch out for the entry of variables and other sources of energy into the grid so it will not be overwhelmed and stressed.

Defensor said the most important thing was the instruction for the NGCP to complete Phase 3 of the Cebu-Negros-Panay (CNP) backbone project, linking Negros and Cebu through a submarine cable.

The CNP project involves the construction of a 238-kilometer long circuit, 230kV capacity transmission, which also includes the expansion of the Barotac Viejo substation, the E.B Magalona cable terminal station, and the Bacolod substation, as per the press statement from the Balita Halin sa Kapitolyo.

Defensor said he has no idea of the status of the project but as per information, its implementation is delayed.

While waiting for the response of the NGCP on the instructions of Marcos, Defensor said he convened the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council and discussed how the provincial government can help in the implementation of Marcos’ instructions. He said they also tackled the strategies that will be executed by the provincial government in compliance with the DOE advisory to prevent the grid from getting stressed.

Inquiry

Meanwhile, Iloilo Reps. Julienne L. Baronda, Raul C. Tupas, and Michael B. Gorriceta submitted a resolution calling for a congressional inquiry in aid of legislation on the power crisis. They said there is an urgent need to conduct an inquiry into the outages so an immediate solution to address the impending power crisis can be formulated, and for Congress to adopt the necessary legislative measures to prevent the same from happening again.

“The extreme heat attributed to the summer season has been exacerbated by the want of power supply which not only takes a toll on the economy of the region but also negatively impacts its image to visitors, local and foreign alike,” the resolution said.

The power outages hit the region, affecting mostly Panay and Guimaras islands, on April 27 and April 28 and power was fully restored early morning of April 30.

Marcos Jr. said the national government will step in to augment efforts in addressing the power outages in Negros and Panay caused by a problem in the distribution system.

“Ang nagkaka-problema ngayon are Negros and Panay Islands. The irony is Negros actually has a surplus of power supply. The reason na nagkaka-brownout is because sa distribution system sa high tension wire… So that’s what we will have to look into,” Marcos said.

“The power outages, well talagang it’s a consequence of the weather at napaka-init. We are now trying to control or trying to manage rather our water consumption, our power consumption because that’s very closely related,” he added.

The Marcos administration earlier swiftly acted on the power crisis in Occidental Mindoro with the operation of at least three power stations to provide 24-hour electricity power service in the province. (Perla Lena, Cebu Examiner)