TransCo assures stable power during summit

The National Transmission Corporation assured Cebuanos there will be stable and adequate power for the duration of the 12th ASEAN Summit here in Cebu next week.

Crispin Lamayan, TransCo assistant vice president for systems operations in the Visayas, yesterday said that the Cebu Utilities Group, which he also chairs, has spared no effort to ensure that there will be no brownouts during the summit.

The group met yesterday to firm up contingency plans in case any unforeseen event may arise and threaten the stability of power supply in Cebu during the ASEAN leaders' meeting next week.

TransCo said one of the worst case scenarios they could think of is when power supply from Leyte would be suddenly cut off from the Cebu-Negros-Panay grid and Cebu would be isolated from Leyte because of unexpected circumstances.

Lamayan, however, said they have prepared for this and will make sure Cebu would be immediately spared from the supply shortfall and only Negros and Panay may suffer from rotating brownouts and loadshedding.

He added that Cebu, especially the venues for the ASEAN Summit meetings of the heads of states and hotels where they are billeted would be spared from any brownout.

He also disclosed that the CNP grid has a new additional capacity of 40 megawatts of geothermal power supply from Murcia, Negros Occidental that will beef up the spinning reserve during the summit.

Major power players in Cebu have been meeting regularly since middle of last year to augment the supply of power in the region and ensure that there would be enough and stable supply of electricity during the event. In August last year, the Department of Energy and TransCo also led the reenergization of Power Barge 101, which provides additional 32 megawatts of power to Cebu. - Wenna A. Berondo/QSB