Power in Eastern Visayas starts to stabilize

TACLOBAN CITY—Power supply in Eastern Visayas region has slowly stabilized two weeks after a 6.5-magnitude earthquake damaged transmission lines and geothermal power plants in Leyte province.

Eastern Visayas, composed of the provinces of Leyte, Southern Leyte, Biliran, Samar, Eastern Samar and Northern Samar, has started receiving 254 megawatts (MW) of power, but the current power supply still falls short of the demand of industries operating in the region, said Edna Legaspina, National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) information officer.

Legaspina said power interruptions would continue as the power load covered only the 210 MW requirement for households served by 11 electric cooperatives and did not include the power needs of major industries.

“We have industries like Pasar (Philippine Associated Smelting and Refining Corp.) which has higher power needs,” she said.

Pasar, a copper smelting company operating at Leyte Industrial Development Estate in Isabel town, Leyte, manufactures electric cables, telecommunication wires and copper-alloy products, among others.

Load shedding

Since the existing supply did not yet cover the power demand of industries, Legaspina said load shedding would continue, especially during peak hours.

On Thursday, the NGCP said it was getting 214 MW from Unified Geothermal Power Plant and 40 MW from Green Core Geothermal Corp.

Power plants in the region were knocked down by the July 6 earthquake that rocked Leyte.

Legaspina also said the NGCP had to transport two transformers, with a combined capacity of 250 MVA (megavolt ampere) from Cebu province, since only three of nine transformers were working here.

She said the NCGP was doing its best to finish all repair works on or before July 31, the deadline set by Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi.
In an advisory on Thursday, NGCP said it was continuing its “parallel, simultaneous strategy of repair, replacement and reconfiguration” for its earthquake-affected transmission equipment.

It said it was “pooling all its resources and exerting all efforts” to fully restore power transmission services by the end of the month.