Bro. Eddie Tell Gov't.: Shoulder Cost Of Gensets To Fend Off Mindanao Power Crisis

Bangon Pilipinas lone senatorial candidate Eddie Villanueva on Wednesday urged the government to shoulder the cost of procurement of diesel generation sets that can be used as a short-term solution to the Mindanao power crisis.​

Villanueva said this is a more plausible alternative to the Department of Energy’s (DOE) earlier plan to offer modular 0.5- to 1-megawatt (MW)-capacity diesel generation sets through a US$200-million loan facility which be made available to electric cooperatives in Mindanao.​

According to Villanueva, placing the burden of procuring the generator sets on the shoulders of electric cooperatives will make this solution less acceptable for the electric cooperatives that will be forced to pass on this added cost to their respective consumers.

​He said higher electricity bills resulting from this additional pass-on cost will have the biggest impact on the poorest households in Mindanao.

​“The government should own up to its failure to develop Mindanao’s power generating capacity that has now resulted to rolling brownouts in some parts of the region. As such, it should shoulder the cost of implementing stop-gap measures to meet the region’s power requirements while the construction of base load power plants is ongoing,” Villanueva said.​

“At this point when we are already experiencing power shortages in the region, the government should not waste time trying to entice electric cooperatives to take on its loan offer, and instead take on the more actionable route of going ahead with the procurement of generator sets and deploying them to electric cooperatives.”

​Based on the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines’ power situation outlook for April 9, the Mindanao grid is expected to post a 112-MW power supply shortfall when it hits its daily peak load of 1,114 MW.

Not a long-term solution
Villanueva noted that the deployment of diesel-fired generator sets should only be viewed as an immediate-term measure to shore up power supply in the region, adding that the government should aggressively develop Mindanao’s generating capacity as a long-term solution to Mindanao’s power woes.​

He said the government should provide incentives for the development of new power facilities in Mindanao.“The government cannot escape the fact that it needs to build additional generation capacity in Mindanao to meet not only the present power requirements but to satisfy future growth in the region’s power demand,” Villanueva said.

​Villanueva also said the government should diversify energy sources and consider renewable energy sources, such as solar power facilities, run-of-the-river and biomass power plants to lessen the grid’s dependence on hydro power which produces less power during prolonged dry season including summer months.​

“The government should look into developing more indigenous, renewable power sources in the region not only to meet its growing electricity requirements but also to diversify our energy sources in the region,” he said.