Visayas Power Shortages Spark House Inquiry on Energy Department

House Committee on Energy chairperson Jose Alvarez on Thursday called the attention of the Department of Energy (DOE) to the frequent power outages in the Visayas region due to tight energy supply. During a joint briefing of the House Committees on Energy, Visayas Development, and Legislative Franchises, Alvarez questioned the frequent declaration of red and yellow alerts for the Visayas grid. "Bakit nagkakaroon ng red and yellow alerts? Bakit yung mga power plants from Mindanao cannot supply the needed power in Visayas? And [why] the excess AC power from Luzon is not immediately sent to Visayas for help?" said Alvarez. The DOE responded that the ongoing outages at major Mindanao power plants have restricted power transfers to the Visayas. "As far as the transfer of capacity from Luzon, our limitation for the transfer capacity of the lines is 250 MW, going from Luzon to Visayas. We cannot go higher, because of the limitation of the capacity of the line," said DOE Undersecretary Mario Marasigan during the hearing. "Pagdating sa Mindanao, ang transfer capacity natin ay 450 MW. Yung kataasan ng mga red alerts natin, nasabay po yung multiple outages ng malalaking planta sa Mindanao. So hindi na rin po makapag-transfer ang Mindanao in some time," he added. A red alert is issued when power supply is insufficient to meet consumer demand and the transmission grid’s regulating requirement. Meanwhile, a yellow alert is issued when the operating margin is insufficient to meet the transmission grid's contingency requirement. Among the reasons for the such declaration include unavailability of some large coal plants, increase in forecast energy demand, reduced power import, among others. Moreover, Deputy Majority Leader and Iloilo City Lone District Representative Julienne Baronda questioned the outages of power plants in various Visayas provinces. "Ang tanong ko, power plants have an average 45 days of normal maintenance per year. But some of your plants have been offline for over months...So wala bang contingency plans kayo?" she asked. For its part, the DOE said that there things already beyond their control. However, it assured that it closely monitoring the power plants. "We have been closely monitoring these power facilities, particularly those that are on outage while we do also inspect yung mga hindi naka-outage. What we are keen in observing is actually the actual date of restore to service. However, there are circumstances beyond our control that bring extended outages to their power facilities," said Marasigan. The DOE said that it is considering replacing the faulty power plants soon. "We are looking at possibility of replacement. Kung hindi na kaya ng planta na mag-deliver, baka time na po na mag-retire na at palitan na," said Marasigan. The Department of Energy earlier ordered the NGCP to install over 250 megawatts of battery energy storage system to address the thinning energy supply in the Visayas grid. — BM, GMA News