A TEAM composed of officials from the Department of Energy (DOE), National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP), and National Transmission Corp. (Transco) gathered Thursday, September 7, to discuss the current power situation in Negros.
Marissa Cerego, assistant director of Renewable Energy Management Board (REMB), said the closed-door meeting in Cebu City sought to address the issues on apparent lack of transmission capacity in the island.
She said addressing transmission woes would allow all power generation projects, including RE, in Negros to connect with the grid mainly through the Cebu-Negros-Panay connection.
“There are certain limitations on the transmission thus, we are speeding up the upgrade so that all generation firms can enter into the grid,” Cerego told VoxPop Bacolod.
The NGCP had said it targets to complete the Cebu-Negros-Panay 230 kilovolts (kV) Backbone Project by 2020.
It is expected to translate to an additional transmission capacity of 800 megawatts between Negros and Cebu, and positioned to fully address line congestion problems in the Visayas
Cerego said there is a need to find a “remedy” while waiting for the completion of the project.
The DOE had earlier said that some power generations in Negros, especially solar, are curtailed due to congestion in transmission.
Cerego said they asked the NGCP to simulate options that could address, even for the meantime, the transmission issues hounding the power industry in the Visayas especially Negros.
“Part of our mandate is to come up with more supply in the grid thus, we are trying to find solutions to this problem,” Cerego said, adding that “although there are delays in the transmission development, we will still try to solve even partially the problem.”
Due to transmission woes, the DOE had earlier put on hold the issuance of permits for RE plants in Negros and Panay, particularly those to be built for future operations.
Lawyer Jose Layug Jr., chairman of the National Renewable Energy Board (NREB), said many energy firms want to operate in Negros Occidental but the NGCP has yet to finish the upgrade before it can be allowed.
"Punong-puno na kasi (it is really full)," Layug said, adding that “as long as there is no Cebu-Negros-Panay upgrade completion, “no more permits will be issued yet."
