Department of Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla said Friday that the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines has completed a study on linking the grids of the Visayas and Mindanao through Surigao, and another is being conducted to connect the two island groups from Negros Oriental and Zamboanga.

The government will later have to make a quick decision so it can start constructing power plants, while the lines from the Visayas to Manila are being maintained, he added.

Petilla, who was in Negros Oriental Friday, encouraged the construction of additional geothermal plants saying it is not only good for the environment for Valencia town, or for Negros Oriental, but for the entire country.

Being renewable and very clean, geothermal energy is dependable because of its base load, compared to hydro when availability of water is a problem during summer, he said.

He also said government, through Congress, the private sector and the business groups are burning lines to address the expected shortfall of power starting next year, and this is not only a problem in Luzon, but also in the Visayas.

In fact, a lot of times, Visayas is actually on yellow alert, and red alert on several occasions but no massive brownouts occurred because Luzon is exporting power to the Visayas grid, he said.

During the inauguration of the 49.4-megawatt power plant in Nasulo, Valencia, Petilla said that Mindanao will have an oversupply of electricity late next year, and their biggest impediment is where to sell the extra power.

That is why government is fasttracking the connection of Visayas and Mindanao, either through the Negros-Zamboanga link, or the Leyte-Surigao connection, he added.

Petilla said it may be true that the Visayas is exporting power to Luzon most of the time, but there are also times when Luzon is sharing its power with to the Visayan region.

During summer, the Visayan grid is expected to export 80 megawatts of power to Luzon, he added.

Petilla thanked the Energy Development Corporation for helping government address the forecasted electricity shortfall in the country, and spending millions of dollars in pre-development alone to look for steam deposits, that can end up with no sustainable find. He called it one of the riskiest undertakings.

EDC chairman and chief executive officer, Federico Lopez, said “The Nasulo plan is just one of a number of clean energy projects that the company and the First Pilipino Holdings Group are to build and add to the power grid in the next few years”.*JG

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