Provinces in the central Philippines will have to brace for more power interruptions in the coming months unless remedial measures are adopted, as the National Power Corporation confirms a shortfall in energy supply in the Visayas for the whole year.

The projected deficit in power supply for the entire year was discussed Wednesday in a meeting in Cebu with officials from the Department of Energy, the NPC and other concerned agencies, said Emeterio Busmeon, Plant Technical Services Division Acting Manager of the NPA-Palinpinon Geothermal Power Plants in Valencia, Negros Oriental.

The shortfall is attributed to an increase in the demand for power in the Visayas regions this year, said Busmeon, although specific figures for 2009 are not yet available.

The provinces being serviced by the Cebu-Negros-Panay grid are the ones affected by the projected deficit in power supply, Busmeon added.

Already, Iloilo and Panay are experiencing at least four brownouts a day due to a Manual Load Dropping by the Transmission Corporation, the company tasked to deliver power to the stakeholders.

As of November 27, 2008, projections include a shortfall of 241 MW for Cebu, 57 MW for Negros and 51 MW for Panay, Busmeon revealed.

But, the figures can change depending on the day and power requirements of an area, he explained.

As a remedial measure, the Department of Energy has crafted a scheme that would ease the projected power deficit in the Visayas this year.

The new scheme, covered by a department circular signed by Energy Sec. Angelo Reyes, mandates all stakeholders to address the problem by participating in the Visayas Supply Augmentation Auction Program.

It encourages stakeholders, such as a distribution utility or electric cooperatives with a generating capacity, to run their embedded generator at times when the demand for power is high.

Another proposal is for utilities to reduce their power requirements at certain times of the day by making some remedial measures from their end, such as allowing for power load interruptions, Busmeon said.

He stressed that the DOE circular is voluntary but stakeholders must participate if only to address the power deficit in the Visayas this year.

Busmeon admitted that it is expensive for distribution utilities to operate their embedded generators.

But the DOE is set to finalize and submit the new scheme to the Energy Regulatory Commission so it can also help find ways to minimize the cost of running embedded generators, he added.

The Visayas Supply Augmentation Auction Program is a self-limiting mechanism and is intended as a short-term plan to be implemented only when there is a deficit in power supply.*JFP

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