‘Panay power situation to improve in a month’

Improvements in the power situation in Panay can be expected in less than a month as one of the island’s major coal-powered plants is undergoing regular maintenance shutdown, according to the Department of Energy (DOE).

The DOE said the services of the Panay grid would improve once the Cebu-Negros-Panay transmission upgrade is completed by the end of the month, at the same time that another major power plant, operated by the Palm Conception Power Corp. (PCPC), finishes its maintenance shutdown.

The DOE stressed the need for power generators, distribution utilities and the system operator to continue coordinating in order to maintain the grid’s stability and quickly recover from the effects of power outages.

The shutdown of the power units of the Panay Energy Development Corp. and the maintenance shutdown of the PCPC were the reasons for the power interruption in Panay as well as in neighboring Negros Occidental on Friday night, according to the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines.

About 80 megawatts of Panay’s power demand was initially served by the Negros-Panay submarine cable and later by smaller power plants.

The Negros-Panay submarine cable has a total capacity of 180 megawatts. Power was restored on the island at past midnight. Panay’s power supply is sourced from four large coalpowered plants with a total capacity of 451 megawatts, and nine smaller diesel/bunker plants with a total capacity of 220.3 megawatts.

The PCPC and the PEDC, Panay’s major power providers, utilize one and three power units, respectively.

The DOE said the island’s total power demand is below 400 megawatts.