ILOILO City – This city could still face rotating brownouts even if the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) completes its transmission infrastructure projects in Western Visayas, warned the metro’s sole power distributor, MORE Electric and Power Corporation (MORE Power).
Roel Z. Castro, president and chief executive officer of MORE Power, highlighted the importance of building a new 3×100 MVA substation, a part from the completion of the Cebu-Negros-Panay (CNP) backbone project.
The new Iloilo substation, planned to be built in La Paz district, is crucial for meeting the city’s growing power needs, he stressed.
“If the 3×100 MVA Iloilo substation is not operational by the end of 2024, Iloilo City will face rotating brownouts due to increased power demand,” Castro warned during yesterday’s inquiry on last week’s blackout by the House committee on energy chaired by Cong. Lord Allan Jay Velasco.
The delay in commissioning the substation would lead to power capacity issues for MORE Power substations supplying electricity to Iloilo City.
This concern was also raised by Castro during Monday’s Senate energy committee hearing on the blackout.
Atty. Mark Anthony Actub, NGCP’s deputy general counsel, assured that negotiations to acquire the land for the substation from the Panay Energy Development Corporation (PEDC) are in their final stages, with construction expected to begin soon.
Despite Actub’s assurances that the substation would be commissioned no later than Dec. 31, 2024, both Sen. Raffy Tulfo (Senate energy committee chair) and Castro remained skeptical.
They pointed out that, based on NGCP’s own timeline presented to the Energy Regulatory Commission and the Department of Energy, the construction of the new substation requires 450 calendar days, raising concerns about the feasibility of completing it within the given deadline.
Castro noted, “If the construction process takes 405 calendar days, we are at risk of rotating brownouts, considering there are only 365 days in a year.”
The development of the 3×100 MVA substation is seen as a critical step in addressing the power needs of this highly urbanized city and economic center of Region 6.
Castro lamented that this project was planned two years ago yet.
“This is a small project in the scheme of things with NGCP, but if it won’t happen, we will have rotating brownouts,” said Castro.
Meanwhile, the CNP3 involves linking Panay, Negros and Cebu by laying an overhead line from Bacolod City to San Carlos City then to San Carlos City to Toledo City, Cebu through a submarine cable.
The whole CNP project involves the construction of a 238km long circuit, 230kV capacity transmission line linking the three islands, which includes the expansion of the Barotac Viejo substation, the E.B. Magalona cable terminal station and the Bacolod substation.
The completion of CNP3 is seen to prevent prolonged power blackouts. It would enable power supply from Cebu to augment Panay Island’s needs in case local power plants fail./PN
