Cebu business sector urgently pushes for power self-sufficiency
‘Cebu’s power requirement is growing seven percent annually and if no new power plants are built, a power shortage will be inevitable. This is the challenge since it takes there to four years to build a power plant’
The Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry has intensified its campaign in pushing for more power plants to attain energy self-sufficiency.
CCCI president Charles Kenneth Co told DAILY TRIBUNE that “The NGCP (National Grid Corporation of the Philippines) forecasts Cebu’s power requirement growing seven percent a year and if no new power plants are built, a power shortage will be inevitable. This is is the challenge since it takes there to four years to build a power plant.”
Added Co, “Cebu lacks an independent power source and we are concerned about a potential Typhoon Odette-like scenario, where there would be a one-month power blackout caused by the dependence of Cebu on power sources external to the region,” he said.
Supply interconnections
Cebu is currently energized by power supply interconnections with Negros, Leyte and Mindanao for a total of 30,000K (kiloVolt), supplemented by contributions from Luzon.
While the interconnected system ensures consistent power supply, the recent three-day Panay-wide blackout and the longdrawn blackouts in the aftermath of typhoon “Odette” have raised concerns about the Visayas’ energy dependence.
“While these interconnections are helpful to us, we would like to establish our Autonomous power plants in Cebu so that we always have access to local power,” Co stressed.
Iloilo power blackout
He cited the power outage in the Panay New Year blackouts. “Easily the losses will be double if that Panay blackout happens in Cebu. Panay lost P3-5 billion; if that happened in Cebu, the losses could go up to P10 billion,” the CCCI president reiterated.
He cited, for instance, Cebu’s IT-BPM, Tourism and Manufacturing industries which are major contributor to the region’s gross domestic product. These industries would face significant losses in a prolonged power outage.
“We need to prepare for our future demand for power as Cebu industries grow about five percent to 10 percent annually. We will need new power plants in five to 10 years to ensure that Cebu would have enough local generation capacity in case of an Odette-type typhoon that can cut off transmission from other islands,” Co stressed.