CEBU – An official of the Department of Energy (DoE) in the Visayas said Metro Cebu will continue to experience rotating brownouts as a result of a power shortage situation which continue to be unsatisfactorily addressed to date.

DoE 7 Supervisor Engr. Rey Maliza said Cebu at present remains 72-megawatt short, prompting rotating brownouts as a subsequence in attempting to cope with inadequacies in power for the metropolis.
Maliza, who spoke with reporters following a briefing with the Provincial Board about the power situation in Cebu, said it is ideal for the power industry to have reserves to keep the power supply stable in case of plant shutdowns or unforeseen power failures.

Although the two 84-megawatt coal-fired power plants in Toledo City have already been tested, these still cannot supply power to the grid because the plants have yet to be turned over by the contractor, Formosa Heavy Industries Inc., to the Cebu Energy Development Corp. (CEDC).

Earlier, the Visayan Electric Company (VECO) said the region still experiences 220 megawatt of power shortage, forcing the utility firm to implement rotating brownouts in Metro Cebu.

VECO spokesperson Ethyl Natera said Cebu and the rest of the Cebu-Negros-Panay (CNP) grid currently lacks around 220 megawatts of power based on notice given by the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP).

Natera said NGCP officials have informed VECO that power generation companies have again faced problems with their power plants, resulting to deficits in the power supply for the region.

Even the Naga City power plant, in southern Cebu which is one of the province’s main sources of power, is also undergoing maintenance even as other power generators in the region are not running in full capacity.