Digicast Negros

Negros power summit set to ensure stable local supply

Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson and Bacolod Mayor Alfredo Benitez (right).*

A Negros Power Summit is expected to be held in February to ensure adequate and stable power supply for the island, following the recent blackouts in Panay.

The Negros Occidental provincial government is engaging the University of St. La Salle (USLS) in Bacolod City to come up with an energy roadmap, Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said on Monday, January 8.

Lacson was set to sign a Memorandum of Agreement with USLS Monday afternoon.

Part of that plan includes the energy summit, a renewable energy week and other activities, he said.

The purpose is to ensure that we have enough power now and in the future, Lacson said.

“Learning from what happened in Panay we would like to make sure that it will not happen here,” the governor said.

The provincial government is pushing for more renewable energy, he said.

He said there has also been a proposal for an offshore wind power farm to be located in the waters between Negros and Panay.

Bacolod Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez, who met with the governor on Sunday, said all the power generators in Negros Island will be invited to the summit.

He said while Negros produces 700MW of power and only consumes 440MWV, the power it produces goes through the grid for consumers elsewhere.

He said Negros needs to harness the power it produces locally for local consumption before it is exported to other areas.

“One of the reasons why we have this disturbance or outages is because sometimes the power supply still comes from other areas, and we rely heavily on the transmission lines,” he said.

Negros embedded power is needed, and the summit will be held to find a win-win solution, Benitez said.*

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