The Department of Energy (DOE) is racing to inject about 260 megawatts (MW) into the Visayas Grid as recurring power alerts stretch into a second month and key generating units remain offline.
The agency said Wednesday the additional capacity will come from a mix of battery energy storage systems, a modular diesel plant, and the possible deployment of a power barge to help address supply shortages that have triggered repeated yellow and red alerts since 12 May.
A major boost is expected from the planned return of Panay Energy Development Corp.’s (PEDC) 150-MW Unit 3, which is scheduled to resume operations by 3 July.
The DOE’s intervention package includes around 170 MW of Battery Energy Storage Systems across Cebu, Negros, and Panay, a 20-MW modular diesel generating set, and the potential transfer of a power barge from Metro Manila to Panay.
“The restoration activities currently underway are already yielding positive results, including a reduction in the number of yellow alert hours and a decrease in the magnitude of supply deficits experienced in the grid,” Energy Undersecretary Mario Marasigan said.
Despite these efforts, the Visayas Grid continues to face significant strain. PEDC Unit 3 remains under restoration, along with two 169-MW generating units of Therma Visayas, Inc.
The situation became more challenging after KEPCO-SPC Power Corporation’s Unit 1 went offline on 14 June due to operational issues. The company is targeting to restore the unit by 19 June.
On top of the immediate measures, the DOE is also pushing forward with longer-term capacity additions, including Therma Visayas Unit 3 and the proposed Unit 2 of Palm Concepcion Power Corp., to strengthen the region’s power supply.
Energy Secretary Sharon S. Garin, meanwhile, remains confident that the return of PEDC Unit 3, combined with the government’s ongoing interventions, will help restore stability to the grid.
“We remain focused on restoring reliability in the Visayas Grid as quickly as possible.
The anticipated return of PEDC Unit 3 by 03 July, combined with the additional capacity interventions being pursued by the government, will substantially strengthen the region’s power supply and help bring an end to the recurring yellow and red alerts that have affected consumers since May,” Garin said.
The Visayas Grid was under a yellow alert from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. due to thin operating reserves caused by the continued outage of major power plants and high electricity demand.
Available capacity as of this morning stood at 2,550 MW, just above the projected peak demand of 2,478 MW. Outages and derated operations across 39 generating units have rendered 984.8 MW unavailable to the grid.