Before any planned investment incursion in the widely-perceived ‘juicier’ power market of Luzon would be concretized, Global Business Power Corporation is evidently giving Visayas grid a preference at this point as far as capacity expansion is concerned.

Global Power President Jesus N. Alcordo noted the opportunities for capacity shoring-up that the company can still consider in the grid, stressing that “Visayas will continue to have a growing need for power, and we are committed to provide the region with the generating capacity to support its economy.”

Company executives indicated studies currently being undertaken for “further investments in power generation in the Visayas region after it completes its projects for the year.”

It must be recalled that the company just synchronized to the grid this month the first 82-megawatt unit of its 246-MW Toledo power facility; hence, already helping ease brownout predicaments, especially in Cebu.

Global Power had set preliminary investment blueprint for 410 MW of greenfield capacity in the Visayas; including the next 164-MW power facility that will be put up for the supply shortage-stricken Panay island.

Alcordo noted that these “new, additional capacity for the CNP (Cebu-Negros-Panay) grid would significantly stabilize grid voltage in 2010,” adding that “this will serve the economic growth in these islands, particularly in Cebu and in Panay.”

Global Power is the spearheading group in the Cebu Energy Development Corporation (CEDC) consortium, which also counts Aboitiz Power Corporation, Vivant Energy Corporation, and Formosa Heavy Industries Corporation as partners in the Toledo power project. The entire 246-MW capacity of the plant has been scheduled on stream by the end of this year.

“We are studying adding more capacity to the grid to further help the region move forward with more reliable, stable and reasonably-priced power," Alcordo emphasized.

For the Panay power facility, Global Power will pursue the venture via its subsidiary Panay Energy Development Corporation (PEDC). So far, the company announced that the 164-MW power plant in Iloilo City is on-track and the “two 82-MW power units will both be operational within the year.”

While the completion of Visayas projects will initially put the area into safe zone as far as power supply is concerned, the long-term case bids for more power projects, especially greenfield capacity to ensure the area’s reliable and sustainable supply.

Based on industry estimates, the CNP grid will be in need of additional capacity starting 2017; even after the completion of the 200-MW coal-fired portfolio that will be brought in by project developers Korea Electric Power Corporation-SPC Power Corporation.

Alcordo, for his part, said that "if all of these projects come online, we would wipe out the power deficiency in the region," yet he qualified that the next challenge will be the medium-term capacity need of the grid.