Power Firms: No Power Outage In Cebu On Christmas Day

[Medic Mike]

CEBU CITY (Updated) -- There won't be brownouts Tuesday and on Christmas Day in Metro Cebu, according to the Visayan Electric Co. (Veco) and the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP).

Supply will be enough for the two-day holiday when power demand is expected to be lower as many factories, malls and offices are closed or on skeleton force.

"The forecast for December 24-25 suggests supply reserves will be available as demand will be lower because these days are holidays. Additional supply from power plants on December 24 would beef up our reserves," said Rosette Martinez, NGCP corporate communications officer.

Theresa Sederiosa, Veco corporate communications manager, said Veco has not received a notice of power curtailment for Dec. 24 and 25 from NGCP.

"We don't expect any rotational brownouts Tuesday and Christmas day because peak demand is low, approximately 290 megawatts at this time. As long as no plant trips during the holidays, we expect enough supply especially because the 200 MW from Luzon has been steady," Sederiosa said.

Sederiosa said Veco activated its contingency team starting Tuesday to respond to any emergencies.

Power supply in the Visayas as of Monday was 1,130 MW with peak demand set at 1,232 MW, leaving a shortage of 102 MW.

Luzon which has 2,166 MW of reserved power, eased that demand by importing 200 MW.

Based on the forecast, the Visayas grid will have a reserve of 63 MW Tuesday and 199 MW on Christmas day.

The NGCP also said that all its transmission lines to the Visayas have been restored, more than a month after Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) hit.

On its social media account, the NGCP said all its transmission lines to utilities in the Visayas had been restored.

"All NGCP transmission lines connected to all distribution utilities in the Visayas area have been restored as of today," it said.

Power was cut to several parts of the Visayas after Yolanda battered the Visayas and Southern Luzon last Nov. 8.

 

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/breaking-news/2013/12/25/power-firms-no-power-outage-cebu-christmas-day-320387