The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) said on Saturday, January 6, that the government is looking into possible sanctions against the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines and operators of several power plants implicated in the recent electricity shortfall in Western Visayas.
The investigation into the massive power outage in Western Visayas may be completed in six to eight weeks, the ERC said.
Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said on Sunday, January 7, that it is also up to Congress to investigate the cause of the power outage to find ways on “how this occurrence can be prevented in the future in any part of the country”.
“Our power comes from within and outside of Negros. We continue to invite power producers in renewable energy to invest in our province,” he added.
He pointed out that would be new investors in conventional power plants have already junked their plans to invest in Negros.
Frank Carbon, Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive officer, said the Maharlika Investment Company should strongly consider investing in Visayas power supply.
Power generation is a very lucrative business endeavor and has short gestation period, he said.
The basic or fundamental problem of the Visayas Power Grid is very thin power reserve, Carbon said.
The grid operating margin or reserve is only 330MW, he added.
Power plants should be embedded in the Islands of Panay and Negros to increase their “base-load” power supply and power reliability requirements, he said.*