HOUSE Committee on Energy chairman and Palawan 2nd District Rep. Jose Alvarez on Monday lamented the Department of Energy’s (DOE) failure in finding a lasting solution to the continuing power crisis in Visayas.
“They don’t have an immediate solution,” Alvarez said after questioning the DOE on why the Visayas continues to experience power shortages despite being part of an interconnected grid.
“Why Red and Yellow? Why can’t Mindanao plants supply? Why can’t Luzon supply?” he added.
The lawmaker expressed his frustration after Energy Undersecretary Mario Marasigan said only abo ut 50 megawatts can be transferred because several generating units in Mindanao remain unavailable.
Marasigan also acknowledged that Visayas lacks conventional and baseload generation, particularly in Negros.
“Negros has no baseload power, except for one geothermal plant. It relies entirely on renewables — specifically solar. There is a lack of conventional power plants,” Marasigan said in Filipino.
He noted that the intermittent nature of renewable energy could further strain the power supply whenever generating units go offline.
“If a power plant experiences an outage, we face a supply shortage,” Marasigan said.
The official also said the DOE is focusing on generation companies and the immediate restoration of unavailable plants.
“The important thing is for the plants that are offline to come back online immediately,” Marasigan said.
However, despite the efforts, Marasigan warned that the Visayas could still experience yellow and red alerts in the second and third weeks of October, underscoring the region’s continuing vulnerability to power shortages.
