THE POWER OUTAGE that hit the entire Visayas on Saturday has highlighted the need for new baseload plants that would allow “islanding” operations in case of a transmission line fault.
In the immediate term, the incident underscores the need to fast-track the implementation of the Visayas Supply Augmentation Auction (VSAA) scheme, a market that would allow trading of uncontracted capacities and interruptible loads of grid-connected users through an auction.
“Right now, we [in Cebu] are completely vulnerable [to a transmission line fault] because we rely so much on power from Leyte [geothermal fields]. But, one more year, and Cebu should be self-sufficient,” said Sebastian R. Lacson, vice-president for administration of the Visayan Electric Co., Inc. (VECO).
He was referring to the 246-megawatt coal plant that is being constructed by the Cebu Energy Development Corp. in Toledo City in Cebu. All three 82-MW units will be synchronized to the Cebu-Negros-Panay grid next year.
The blackout occurred just a few days after the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) gave the green light for the implementation of the VSAA.
But even the VSAA would not have helped, Mr. Lacson said, because the scheme addresses power requirements using only the excess capacities.
24-HOUR BLACKOUT
Power supply dropped in the entire Visayas at 9:38 a.m. on Saturday because of a transmission line fault between the Marshalling central switching station in Tongonan, Kananga town and the substation in Tabango town, about 28 kilometers from the Energy Development Corp. (EDC) geothermal complex in Leyte. The Leyte-Cebu submarine cable starts at the Tabango substation, said EDC Chief Operating Officer Ricky B. Tantoco.
Power generation units from the Leyte Geothermal Power Plant (LGPP), including those operated by the EDC, tripped off as a result, the National Power Corp. said in a statement.
Power was fully restored only after about 24 hours, or at 9:26 a.m. yesterday, said Crispin Lamayan, National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) vice-president for Visayas system operations.
“We have already cleared the lines. There was really a fault in our transmission line from Marshalling. We couldn’t get any power from the geothermal plants in Leyte,” Mr. Lamayan said.
The Leyte geothermal plants supply between 500 MW and 600 MW to Cebu, Negros and Panay.
Power producers and utilities in the Visayas resorted to “islanding operations” by relying on existing capacities on the island. “Islanding” means providing power from local sources to a certain area even after power from the grid has been cut off.
In Cebu, Mr. Lacson said VECO sourced 60 MW to 70 MW from independent power producers Toledo Power Co., Cebu Private Power Corp., and East Asia Utilities Corp. (EAUC).
“We tried to get what we could. But it’s difficult to get power when you’re desperate and there are voltage problems in the grid,” Mr. Lacson said. VECO needed at least 210 MW, the amount of power that it gets from the Cebu-Negros-Panay grid.
In Panay, a report from NGCP said Global Business Power Corp.’s power plant in Nabas, Aklan powered portions of Kalibo, the capital town of Aklan.
But the resort island of Boracay was powerless, except for establishments that used generators.
Power Barge 103 in Estancia, Iloilo supplied the franchise area of Capiz Electric Cooperative and Iloilo Electric Cooperative (Ileco) 3, which covers most of northern Iloilo.
Panay Power Corp. (PPC), which is also operated by Global Business Power, continued to supply power to Iloilo City and portions of Ileco 1.
SPARED
Amanda Garcia, Panay Electric Co. public information officer, said Iloilo City was spared from the blackout because of PPC.
But she stressed the need of new capacities in Panay to avert blackouts in case problems occur in the grid.
The NGCP report also said the Panay Diesel Power Plant in Dingle, Iloilo and Power Barge 101 in Iloilo City encountered start-up problems and failed to supply power to Panay.
Prior to the blackout, brownouts occurred in Iloilo City from 12 midnight to 2 a.m. because of maintenance works in PPC’s switchyard and transformers.
In Negros, the Central Negros Electric Cooperative operations office recorded the brownout at 9:42 a.m. on Saturday.
Zosimo Briones, head of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines in Negros, said the Palinpinon 1 and 2 geothermal plants in Valencia, Negros Oriental started supplying power in the afternoon and rotated power in Cebu, Negros and Panay.
At 12:40 p.m. on Saturday, the NGCP gradually supplied power to all CENECO substations in the cities of Bacolod, Talisay, Silay and Bago and the towns of Murcia and Don Salvador Benedicto. At 6 p.m., a load shedding occurred in CENECO areas which lasted for about two hours. CENECO records show power was totally restored in all its substations at 8 p.m., or about 11 hours since the transmission line fault triggered the massive blackout.
Roberto Montelibano, president of the Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said brownouts are always bad for business. He said those who use generators have to spend three times more the cost to run them.
“Food is spoiled when freezers stop and this means losses,” he added.
Power was gradually restored after the EDC plants in Leyte went back online by 2:30 p.m., Mr. Tantoco said.
“But these were not on full load yet as some [transmission] lines have not been restored fully,” he said.
As of 6 a.m. yesterday, EDC plants had a total load of 459.57 MW, he added.
The Napocor statement said Cebu was the first island to be fully energized by late Saturday afternoon, followed by Bohol, Samar and Leyte. Negros and Panay were 65% and 40% energized, respectively, by then. The Negros-Panay submarine cable was synchronized at 5:18 p.m.
‘URGENT,’ BUT NO TIMETABLE
Mylene C. Capongcol, Electric Power Industry Management Bureau director of the Department of Energy (DoE) said that the power blackout last Saturday highlighted the need to implement the VSAA as soon as possible.
“We hope that what happened [last Saturday] will help facilitate the fast-tracking of the project,” Ms. Capongcol said in a phone interview yesterday. “There is really an urgent need to address the power shortage in the Visayas.”
She said the program’s pricing methodology is still under study by the ERC. “The actual pricing compensation mechanism for those who will participate is still being finalized.”
ERC Executive Director Francis Saturnino C. Juan said that “the VSAA proposal itself is still on the table as talks and discussions are still ongoing. At this point, however, we are fast-tracking the process because of the urgent need to address the situation.”
The ERC gave the green light last Thursday for the DoE to proceed with listing qualified customers who could participate in the VSAA. Mr. Juan said that the provisional authority was given “to see if there is a sufficient level of interest in this project to move forward. Because even if we approve the proposal, and no one participates, then it will be a waste.”
According to Ms. Capongcol, there are only three power generation companies that have registered, so far. — Reports from Marites S. Villamor in Cebu, Francis Allan L. Angelo in Iloilo, Nanette L. Guadalquiver in Bacolod, Sarwell Q. Meniano in Tacloban, and Jose Bimbo F. Santos in Manila
BusinessWorld
Vol. XXII, No. 187
Monday, April 27, 2009
(http://www.bworld.com.ph/BW042709/content.php?id=056)
Good writing,, will visit once again!
By: tawsusappydub on May 20, 2009
at 4:50 pm