No power shortage despite looming El Niño – Gatchalian

MANILA, Philippines — There will be no power shortage despite the onset of El Niño because the Philippines has new energy plants, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian assured the public on Saturday.

“Good news for Luzon: There’s no problem. The Visayas grid has no problem. And the Mindanao grid has no problem,” Gatchalian, speaking in Filipino, said in “Usapang Senado,” a radio program on AM radio station DWIZ. “That means the whole country has no problem with power despite El Niño because we have many new power plants.”

“The construction of new plants continues, many renewable sources of energy are coming in. Our energy situation is good,” he added.

According to the state weather bureau, its alert system is now in the “El Niño advisory” category, which is a step closer to declaring a full-blown El Niño phenomenon. /atm

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