Palawan power crisis seen worsening

Palawan business leaders have expressed fears that the power crisis in the province and in the city of Puerto Princesa “could get worse unless urgent and radical solutions are set in place soonest”.

The business leaders earlier aired warnings that the persistent and prolonged brownouts in the Puerto Princesa City “could jeopardize efforts to make Palawan a major player in the international tourism market”. The brownouts, they pointed out, have increased in frequency and duration over the past few months.  

Former Palawan Chamber of Commerce and Industry head Vicente Tan said the brownouts, which remain unabated over the past two years, is a major disincentive to investors and tourists who may want to come into the province”. Tan is currently the president of the Palawan Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce.   Tan said the Palawan business community “is worried that despite the series of dialogues with officials of the Palawan Electric Cooperative (Paleco), no clear solution and no visible action have been set in place to address the issue”.

In a meeting with Palawan business leaders last year, National Power Corp. (Napocor) officials said there are some 40 megawatts of installed power generating capacities in the province. It clarified that the peak requirements of Palawan and Puerto Princesa is at 21 megawatts which means there is a significant surplus of generated power.

The business leaders said the significant power generation surplus means the massive brownouts can only be traced to the power distribution system which is the responsibility of Paleco.

There is no shortage of power for the Palawan and Puerto Princesa; only a shortage of good distribution service, they pointed out.