Adequate power supply during 2016 polls assured, says Petilla

Liberal Party (LP) senatorial bet and former energy chief Carlos Jericho Petilla believes there would be adequate power supply next year to meet the country’s growing demands especially during the May 2016 presidential elections.

Petilla, who in 2014 warned of a possible power shortage that led to an aggressive campaign to save energy and new supply from power plants, said a recent report by the Department of Energy indicates there is enough power supply next year.

During a recent Congressional hearing on DOE’s budget, incumbent Secretary Zenaida Monsada said power supply is projected at 13,300 megawatts compared to a projected demand of 12,000 MW.

“The committed capacities, if they come in on time, are sufficient to meet the contingency reserve requirement by 2016,” Monsada said during the briefing.

Petilla is confident there would be no delays in the scheduled operation of new power plants like what happened last year, which prompted him to propose to President Aquino to invoke Section 71 of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 to allow government to tap additional power capacity.

“The key is to have sufficient reserves so that when a plant suddenly conks out, the grid would be stable,” he said.

In Mindanao, the prevailing power crunch is expected to improve with new power plants to come online next year, he added.

Projects in the pipeline include the Aboitiz company Therma South Inc.’s 300 megawatt plant in Davao City and San Miguel Corp. Global’s 600-MW plant in Bataan.

Jitters of a power outage during the elections surfaced during the May 2010 polls after a nearly ten-hour blackout hit Luzon five days before the elections.

At the time, a total of 3,700 megawatts went offline, following a tripping of Team Energy’s 1,218-megawatt (MW) power station in Sual, Pangasinan, which affected other power plants.

The power supply situation, however, stabilized during election day itself.