Gov’t fasttracks interconnection

CEBU, Philippines – The national government is now speeding up works for the interconnection of the Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao grids to help each other in case of power shortage.

Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla said the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines has just completed a study of linking the grids of the Visayas and Mindanao through Surigao.

Another study is being conducted to connect the two island groups from Negros Oriental and Zamboanga, after which the government will have to make a quick decision “so we can start constructing power plants,” while the lines from the Visayas to Manila is being maintained, he said.

Petilla announced, during the inauguration of the 49.4-megawatt geothermal power plant of the Energy Development Corporation in Nasulo of Valencia town in Negros Oriental, that Mindanao will have an oversupply of electricity by late 2015 and that the biggest impediment will be on where to sell their extra power.

Thus, the government is fasttracking the connection of Visayas and Mindanao either through the Negros-Zamboanga link or the Leyte-Surigao connection, he said.

EDC chairman and chief executive officer Federico Lopez said: “the Nasulo plant is just one of a number of clean energy projects that the company and the First Pilipino Holdings Group are committed to build and add to the power grid in the next few years.”

While in Dumaguete City, Petilla encouraged the construction of more geothermal plants because these are not only good for the environment, but also for the town of Valencia, for Negros Oriental and for the entire country.

As a renewable and very clean energy, geothermal energy is dependable because of its base load, compared to hydro energy, of which availability of water is a problem during summer, he said.

The government, through Congress, the private and the business sectors, has been working hard to address the forecast shortfall of power starting next year, said Petilla as he told Negrenses that this problem is one for the entire country.

For a number of times, Visayas fell on yellow and red alerts although there were no massive power outages because Luzon has been exporting power to the Visayas grid.

Petilla said that, while it may be true that Visayas is exporting power to Luzon most of the times, there were also times when Luzon shared its power to the Visayan regions. During summer, the Visayan grid is expected to export 80 megawatts of power to Luzon, he added.