Cebu power firm vows no brownouts

CEBU — The Visayan Electric Co. Inc. (VECO) has given assurances that its services will not be hampered by the power shortfall in the Cebu-Negros-Panay grid since it has a contract with the National Power Corp. increasing its guaranteed power supply from 120 megawatts to 170 MW.

In situations where there is a power shortage in the grid, VECO will not be part of a power curtailment scheme, Ethel Natera, senior supervisor of VECO’s community relations department, said.

Natera said distribution utilities, whose contracts with Napocor are not updated yet, will be the ones affected by the load-shedding which the Napocor or the National Transmission Co. would implement.

Natera gave the assurances after the Napocor said 77 MW were currently shut down from the CNP grid due to the repairs of five power generators.

Moses Red, of Napocor’s corporate specialist staff, earlier said the months of May and June will be critical for the CNP grid because of the summer season and the expected rise in demand.

Aside from off-line generators, the Panay-based Power Barge 102, with a capacity of 24 MW, will also be transferred to Mindanao by May, leaving the CNP grid without at least 101 MW.

Red, however, said the 100-MW Pinamukan plant in Panay is undergoing tests and will be on-line by June.

Even if this 100-MW power generator is integrated into the CNP grid, he said it will still be a break-even, which means there will be no power surplus. — Freeman News Service