CEBU CITY – The Department of Energy 7 is calling for the establishment of more power plants in the Visayas and for the expansion of existing plants since the region needs 2,000 megawatts starting in 2015.

The DOE foresees there won’t be enough supply of power in the Visayas by 2015 and onwards unless the existing capacity gets a boost.

During the power summit organized by the Freedom from Debt Coalition recently, DOE Visayas director Antonio Labios said the Visayas grid needed a total additional capacity of 2,000 MW starting 2015 and in the next 15 years.

For 2015 alone, Labios said Visayas needed an additional 100 MWs based on DOE’s power supply and demand outlook.

Labios said there was a strong demand for power in the Visayas considering the increasing number of malls, business establishments and residential areas.

”Now until 2014, we still have ample supply of power but 2015 and onwards is really critical,” he said.

The Visayas had at least 408 MWs of reserve power, according to the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines.

In 2009 and 2010, recurring power interruptions in Cebu compelled Cebu’s largest power utility, the Visayan Electric Company Inc., to rely on the help of large power consumers.

At hours of the day when demand spiked, these large consumers stopped using Veco’s power and relied on their own generators, to prevent brownouts.

In the Visayas, Labios said the projected growth in the demand for power was 4.55 percent each year, that’s why new power generation sources were needed to prevent rotating brownouts.

From January to May this year alone, the maximum power demand in the Visayas grid, Labios said, was 1,437 MWs.

This reflected an increase of nearly four percent compared to the maximum power demand recorded in the same period last year, which was 1,386 MWs.

Labios said the existing power plants were already expanding their operations but could only cover the additional power needed starting from last year until 2014, or about 232 MWs.*PNA

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