GOV’T. TO SEND POWER BARGE TO BOHOL, LEYTE

Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Dino says President Duterte is set to visit Leyte today Veco discourages public from using highconsumption appliances, such as aircon, refrigerator

The National Government through the Department of Energy (DOE) will send a power barge to Leyte and Bohol to temporarily address the problem of electricity in the areas affected by the brownout, following an earthquake.

Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Lloyd Dino said that while the power barge is set to be transported to the two provinces, the affected power plants and transformers will also be rehabilitated.

Rotational brownouts have been experienced in Cebu and Bohol while most parts of Leyte have no power, after the earth- quake last week.

The quake damaged the power plants in Leyte.

With the severe damage, President Rodrigo Duterte along with other government officials will visit Leyte today, said Dino.

Dino said they will bring four generator sets, offered by some Cebuanos, to be used in Leyte to energize water pumps in Ormoc City and other areas.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines will also send generator sets, which will be distributed to the different cooperatives in Leyte and Bohol.

Dino said they need to support Bohol by also sending a power barge, considering that the province is relying on tourism.

“Leyte power plant will be ready within the week. Problema naay energy, but di ma- distribute kay ang transformer down (There will be 300 megawatts once the power plants are fixed, but the problem is the distribution of power considering that the transformers are down). According to NGCP (National Grid Corp. of the Philippines), I heard, this will take three weeks more,” said Dino.

For the power barge, it will take about a month before it reaches Leyte and Bohol.

“Right now, atong gitan-aw kung asa’y mas mauna kung magpada ba ta og power barge didto or ang pag- rehabilitate sa (We are looking at which one will be first completed, either the power barge or the rehabilitation of the) power plants. As per DOE, Sec. Alfonso Cusi, they’re doing it simultaneously,” Dino said.

The NGCP yesterday said Cebu will continue to experience rotational brownouts due to the loss of about 800 megawatts (MW).

NGCP Public Information Officer Betty Martinez said the Tongonan geothermal plant and solar plants in Leyte were destroyed by the earthquake.

Martinez said they will bring two big generation sets to Ormoc City today to temporarily replaced its transformer, which was also destroyed by the tremor.

The Visayan Electric Company (Veco) said one unit of Cebu Energy Development Corp. (CEDC) in Toledo City and another unit of Panay Energy Development Corp. (PEDC) in Iloilo are under preventive maintenance.

Veco Information Officer Quennie Bronce posted on Facebook that the total estimated power shortage in Cebu is 200MW. Veco’s share is 36MW.

Fortunately, Veco has an Interruptible Load Program (ILP), where businesses offer to operate their own generation sets to spare other customers from longer or more frequent outages.

The ILP will contribute approximately 20 MW of load curtailment, reducing the power shortage to 16MW.

Veco has implemented a rotational brownout in Metro Cebu to help ease the shortage. Every power outage will last for a maximum of one hour, depending on the availability of power supply.

Veco urged customers to help in reducing power shortage during peak hours by not using high-consumption appliances such as refrigerators, air-conditioning units, flat irons and washing machines. /

■ Power plants were damaged in Leyte, and although they will be ready within the week, the problem will be distribution, and it will take some three weeks to rehabilitate the transformers, says Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Dino ■ Veco says generation units from CEDC in Toledo City and PEDC are under preventive maintenance.