CEBU CITY – The Cebu business community including civil society groups underscored the need for the province to attract more investors in the power generation business within the next four years as existing power plants, including two coal-fired power plants that are now under construction, have enough supply to last until 2013.

Trade groups and stakeholders in the power industry, including officers of the Department of Energy (DoE) and Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), convened last Friday for the Energy Summit dubbed “E+E=Sustainability: An Energy and Environmental Summit” organized by the Cebu Business Club.

Industry players agree that despite the additional 446-megawatt (MW) capacity for Cebu, sourced from new operating coal-fired power plants of the Cebu Energy Development Corp. (246-MW) and Kepco (200-MW), Cebu needs more power generation plants to ensure a long- term sustainability of power supply.

The CEDC power plant in Toledo City is said to be operational by 2010 and the Kepco plant in Naga, Cebu by 2011.

“Cebu will experience power shortages in 2013 as there are no new plants being planned beyond 2011,” said Carlos Co, chairman of the power core group of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI).

Co said “more plants are needed” citing an earlier data from the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) that shows Cebu would need an additional capacity of 96-MW by 2013, 177-MW by 2015, and 415-MW by 2020 – to address the projected 907-MW power demand in 2013 and growing demand in the years to come.

The demand for power in Cebu grows at a conservative average rate of five percent a year, he said.

NGCP records show that the demand for power in the province grew 6.1 percent in 2006, 3.7 percent in 2007, and 12.9 percent last year. From January to October this year, Cebu’s load growth was already 10.9 percent.

For last month, NGCP had earlier projected Cebu’s power capability at 539-MW and demand at 519-MW. This month, NGCP estimated Cebu’s capability at 538-MW and demand at 522-MW.

Since September this year, with no reserve and no new power generation source, Cebu has been experiencing rotating outages whenever existing power plants, like those from independent power producers, were shut down for maintenance.

NGCP assistant vice president Crispin Lamayan assured that NGCP has not approved any shutdown of power plants for maintenance until January next year.

“Because of these old plants, the additional supply of power next year and in 2011 might only reach 2015 and not 2017. We need new power plants in place,” Co stressed.

Meanwhile, East Asia Utilities General Manager Roger Lim believes that Cebu could have avoided the power shortage problem if the Cebu-Negros-Panay Grid capacity is being maximized, and the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM-Visayas) has been allowed to commercially operate.