HERE they are again — the rotating brownouts in Negros, Panay, and across the Visayas Region. Pestering. Irritating. Frustrating.
Negrenses, Bacolodnons and Ilonggos keep venting their frustration on Facebook. They have likened the rotating brownouts to Christmas lights — “patay-siga.”
Now, the questions: Why are rotating brownouts back? What is the main cause?
So simple: The Visayas grid lacks power!
But why?
The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) said that as of September 3, around 28 power plants in the Visayas were on forced outage. Sixteen others were operating at derated capacities.
The result: available capacity in the Visayas stood at 2,233 megawatts (MW), against a peak demand of 2,504 MW. Heavens!
WHERE ARE THE DOE, ERC?
For the past weeks, NGCP has been notifying the public through yellow and red alerts.
A yellow alert simply means that the grid has thin operating reserves because the available power supply cannot fully cover its contingency requirements.
A red alert, meanwhile, means the available power supply is insufficient to meet consumer demand and the grid’s required operating reserves.
So, didn’t both the Department of Energy (DOE) and Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) notice NGCP’s constant public advisories on yellow and red alerts? Impossible!
Now, both government agencies appear to be cramming.
Energy Secretary Sharon Garin, in a statement, said the power supply in the Visayas would return to near-normal levels this September.
Why and how?
Because, according to Garin, Therma Visayas Inc.’s (TVI) 169-megawatt Unit 2 and Korea Electric Power Corporation-Salcon Power Corporation’s (KEPCO-SPC) 105-MW Unit 2 are scheduled to resume operations this week.
Then, TVI’s 169-MW Unit 1 and Cebu Energy Development Corp.’s 82-MW Unit 1 are expected to return within the month.
‘RHETORICS’
Power Watch Negros’ Wennie Sancho described Garin’s recent pronouncements as a kind of “rhetoric.”
“They were merely words of assurances but far from reality,” Sancho said.
Meaning, they have given such assurances before, and now they are doing it again. That is Sancho’s point of contention.
For Frank Carbon of the influential Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MBCCI), “The Visayas power problem is not simply that we don’t have enough power; we don’t always have enough dependable power where and when it is needed.”
Negros, he said, is particularly vulnerable because it relies heavily on imported power and has little embedded firm capacity of its own.
Carbon stressed: “The Visayas may have enough power in total, but not enough power in the right place, at the right time, with enough transmission capacity to move it.”
RIPPLE EFFECTS
So, what are the ripple effects of rotating brownouts?
This simple question resonates across Bacolod and Negros Occidental, as well as the rest of the Visayas Region. Millions of pesos are lost, some businesses are forced to close shop, and workers are displaced.
Why?
Because, as Sancho stressed, brownouts are not just about technicalities; they also carry a social cost.
For the youth group Negrosanon Initiative for Climate and the Environment (NICE), rotating brownouts are causing severe disruptions to the economy, education, healthcare and essential public services.
Power load drops, the group added, also put livelihoods at risk, disrupt students’ learning, compromise the delivery of critical services, and expose the fragility of an energy system that remains overly dependent on centralized and unreliable power sources.
NICE, therefore, called on both the DOE and ERC to address the power crisis in the Visayas and Mindanao right now.
UP TO THE HEAVENS
Well, let’s be candid. The return of rotating brownouts not only in Negros but also in Panay is a test for Energy Secretary Garin. She’s an Ilongga from Guimbal town and a member of the influential Garin clan in Iloilo Province. She, therefore, must hear the lamentations of her “kasimanwas,” which now seem to reach up to the heavens.
The current power crisis in the Visayas and Mindanao did not happen overnight. But where was Garin when NGCP kept “shouting” about the insufficient power supply for months?
As far as I can remember, NGCP started sounding the alarm about the grid crisis as early as March. The grid operator also kept flagging to the media the forced outages of scores of power plants. So, why does the DOE seem to be playing naive about the power troubles in the Visayas and Mindanao?
POWER TO PROBE
Let’s be clear. Perhaps Secretary Garin needs a refresher.
When power plants experience unexpected or forced outages, the DOE must play its vital regulatory and supervisory role, with the goal of protecting consumers, maintaining grid reliability, and holding generation companies accountable.
So, what does the DOE need to do?
Well, it can immediately deploy teams to investigate the causes of the power plants’ forced outages. Then, these DOE teams must submit their reports to Garin so she can formulate concrete actions to address the problems.
Garin also has the authority to compel power firms to submit comprehensive incident reports, coupled with realistic timelines for bringing sidelined generating capacity back online.
Did Garin do this?
If so, why have the power troubles in the Visayas — especially in Negros and Panay — persisted for several months?
Let’s get real. What we mostly see and hear are Garin’s pronouncements assuring the public that solutions to the rotating brownouts are now in the offing.
Oh, really?
‘NGA-A SUBONG LANG?’
Well, I am not questioning Garin’s capability to lead the DOE. She’s qualified — or perhaps even overqualified. The only question I have in mind is: “Nga-a subong lang?” (Why only now?)
People are now ranting. They really hate the rotating brownouts. Yes, they’re tired of listening to “rhetoric.” What they want from the DOE or Secretary Garin is simple: Find power now.
If Garin can’t, then what is the use of staying in power when power itself is her major problem now? By golly!
This test for Garin may, perhaps, be a “test from heaven.”/PN
