Negros Occidental execs see electricity shortage

BACOLOD CITY—Unless new power plants are built in Negros Occidental, the province will face a 93-megawatt power deficit in 2015.

Jose Ma. Valencia, chief of staff of Negros Occidental Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr., said on Tuesday that firms granted service contracts by the Department of Energy  in 2009 to tap the province’s rivers for hydroelectric power have yet to start their projects.

Valencia said the firms haven’t even talked with the province’s officials.

He could not identify the firms that got service contracts, however.

Valencia said he and the governor met with Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras to ask if the service contracts could be canceled.

He said they informed Almendras that representatives of the firms with service contracts have not conducted pre-feasibility studies on the hydropower potential of the rivers as required.

The issuance of the service contracts has deterred serious investors in hydro electric power plants in the province from going ahead with their projects, Valencia said.

Last year, Marañon announced that three hydroelectric power plants, with a combined production of 67 MW, were expected to be built in Negros Occidental.