Local firm Oriental Energy & Power Generation Co. is joining the bandwagon of project sponsors wanting to help solve the power supply woes of energy-starved Visayas grid via its proposed P2.5 billion hydropower facility.

According to Oriental Energy president Caroline Tanchay, the project will provide part of the electricity needs of island-destination Boracay.

The proposed power facility, as could be gleaned from project blueprint, will have 18 megawatts capacity and will be sited in Madalag, Aklan.

Boracay island, without the establishments resorting to self-generation, could have been heavily stricken with rolling power outages, to the detriment of tourists getting enthralled at visiting it.

“We offer the best solution to the province’s problems because we offer clean and cheap energy,” she stressed.

Tanchay noted that Panay island basically has one of the highest electricity rates because generation portfolio in the area is heavily dependent on oil, of which prices are highly violatile.

With the proposed hydropower project, the Oriental Energy executive is hoping that consumers in the area will finally have a cheaper source for their electricity requirements.

“Panay currently has the most expensive power cost and the lowest supply in the Philippines because it has no indigenous power supply sources,’’ Tanchay emphasized.

Investment flows in Visayas are spurred by circumstances that the area is badly in need of additional power capacity.

On the decision of Oriental Energy to go hydro, it was noted that this has been partly underpinned by the attractive set of investment perks offered under the Renewable Energy Law.

Without resolving the power supply situation both in Visayas and Mindanao, the Arroyo administration will have no choice but to leave this country with another nightmare of a power crisis.