ILOILO City – With recurring brownouts exposing the Visayas grid’s persistent supply shortage, the Iloilo City government is pushing for additional and more reliable power sources, including the expected entry of an integrated liquefied natural gas facility, as Mayor Raisa Treñas warned there is “no instant or overnight solution” to the power crisis.
Treñas said the city is engaging power generators and other industry stakeholders to explore ways of increasing generation capacity amid rotational brownouts that have disrupted households, businesses and workers.
“We understand the frustration of our fellow Ilonggos because of these continuing power interruptions and rotational brownouts. We know how these disruptions affect our families, businesses, workers, and our daily lives,” Treñas said.
The mayor stressed, however, that the Manual Load Dropping (MLD) imposed whenever electricity supply falls short of demand is ordered by the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) and is beyond the city government’s direct control.
“Ang manual load shedding nga ginapatuman sang NGCP indi direkta nga kontrolado sang Iloilo City Government,” she said.
“But we are doing everything we can to understand the situation and help find solutions,” she added.
The recurring outages are part of a wider supply problem gripping the Visayas grid.
On Sept. 3, NGCP placed the Visayas grid under red alert from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m., with yellow alerts before and after the period. Available capacity stood at only 2,187 megawatts (MW), well below the 2,575-MW peak demand — a shortfall of 388 MW.
NGCP consequently directed distribution utilities, including MORE Power and Iloilo electric cooperatives, to implement MLD to avert a wider grid collapse and potentially longer power interruptions.
The tight supply was attributed to limited generation and zero power imports from the Mindanao grid, aggravated by the unavailability of major generating units in the Visayas.
The Energy Regulatory Commission earlier reported that the unavailability of Therma Visayas Inc. Units 1 and 2 in Cebu and Panay Energy Development Corp. (PEDC) Unit 3 in Iloilo significantly reduced available capacity.
In Iloilo City, thousands of MORE Power consumers have been affected by the continuing MLD as the utility sheds load in compliance with NGCP directives.
MORE CAPACITY NEEDED
Treñas said the city government has been talking with generators and other power-sector players to understand the supply problem and identify measures that could bring more electricity into the grid.
She cited the city’s recent discussions with PEDC during a meeting of the Iloilo City Business Development Council.
“Just recently, naka-istorya kita sa PEDC during the meeting of the Iloilo City Business Development Council,” Treñas said.
“Nahibaluan naton nga may mga ginahimo nga tikang para madugangan pa ang power-generation capacity sa Visayas,” she added.
Treñas stressed that increasing generation capacity is critical because the electricity shortage extends far beyond Iloilo City.
“Importante ini kay nakita naton nga ang problema sa power supply indi lang problema sang Iloilo City. Isa ini ka mas daku nga concern nga naga-apekto sa bilog nga Visayas,” she said.
LNG FACILITY EYED
Treñas also cited the expected entry of LNGPH, an integrated liquefied natural gas terminal and power facility in Iloilo City, as a potential additional source of electricity for the region.
“Also, we are expecting the entry here in Iloilo City of LNGPH, an integrated liquefied natural gas terminal and power facility,” she said.
The mayor said securing additional and more reliable sources of electricity is increasingly important as power demand continues to grow.
But she cautioned Ilonggos against expecting an immediate end to the recurring outages.
“There is no instant or overnight solution to this problem,” Treñas said.
“But we are not taking this sitting down. Aktibo kita nga nagapangita sang dugang nga mga solusyon kag nagatrabaho upod sa mga stakeholders sa power sector,” she added.
Treñas said City Hall will continue coordinating with NGCP, distribution utilities, generation companies and other power-sector stakeholders.
“We will continue to communicate and coordinate with them so we can better understand the situation and take concrete steps to protect the interest of the city and the welfare of every Ilonggo,” she said.
Power interruptions, meanwhile, could continue whenever available generation falls below demand and NGCP resorts to MLD to maintain the stability of the Visayas grid.
MORE Power and electric cooperatives have stressed that NGCP-directed MLD is beyond their direct control because distribution utilities are required to shed load to protect the grid from more extensive disruptions./PN
