Service at major Visayas power plants is set to be restored between July and August, while nearly 200 megawatts (MW) of battery storage capacity could come online within the next two months as authorities work to ease recurring power supply shortages in the region.
Energy Undersecretary Mario Marasigan said over the weekend that a 150-MW power plant in Panay is expected to resume operations by 3 July, while two 169-MW units in Toledo, Cebu, are scheduled to complete repairs by the end of August.
Yellow alert
“The situation in the Visayas has persisted since the yellow alert issued on May 12, with intermittent red alerts that have sometimes led to manual load dropping and rotational brownouts,” Marasigan said.
According to the Department of Energy (DoE), 673.4 MW of generating capacity in the Visayas remains on forced outage, while some power plants are operating below their full capacity.
“Some power plants are not delivering their full capacity. Biomass plants are facing fuel shortages because it is not currently the milling season, while some hydropower facilities in the Visayas are generating less electricity due to lower water levels during the dry season,” Marasigan said.
Strengthening grid reliability
To strengthen grid reliability, particularly during periods when solar generation is unavailable, the DoE is pushing for additional battery energy storage systems.
“We need to build at least 170 MW of battery energy storage systems,” Marasigan said.
He added that around 70 MW of battery storage projects could be completed by June, while another 130 MW may be finished within the next two months.
“We expect around 70 MW of battery storage projects to be completed within June, while another 130 MW could be finished within the next two months,” he said.
Solar limited to daytime
Marasigan noted that while solar capacity in the Visayas continues to expand, particularly in Negros, its contribution is limited to daytime hours.
“We have many solar facilities, particularly in Negros, but these are only available during the daytime. That is why yellow and red alerts typically occur at night,” he said.
Despite recent earthquake-related outages in Mindanao, Marasigan said the island’s power supply remains sufficient and continues to support the Visayas.