Philippines: Power in Eastern Visayas starts to stabilize

Philippines: Power in Eastern Visayas starts to stabilize

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.

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Link to Original Article:
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/915725/power-in-eastern-visayas-starts-to-stabi
lize

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John Diecker
APT Consulting Group Co., Ltd.

www.aptthailand.com