SunStar: Western Visayas faces power shortage in 2011
Residents and traders in Western Visayas, particularly in Panay and Negros islands, should brace themselves now for a possible power shortage by 2011. Sun-Star Bacolod (www.sunstar.com.ph) reported Saturday night that the warning came from Mario Marasigan, director of the Department of Energy (DOE) Energy Utilization Management Bureau. "A power shortage is a consequence of growth of which power supply coming from natural sources and independent power suppliers are unable to cope," Marasigan said. He said this may be similar to what happened in the 1990s during the later part of the Aquino administration, where consumers suffered power outages for days. Marasigan said DOE is presently conducting this conference in Negros both to gather inputs on various stakeholders and develop coping mechanisms in line with the Philippine Energy Plan (PEP) 2005-2014. "PEP's target is to attain 60 percent energy self- sufficiency level by 2010 and beyond. Our presence here is also to lay out development challenges that need to be hurdled by every energy sub-sector, which is the Central Negros Electric Cooperative (Ceneco) in the case of Bacolod," he said. Meanwhile, Marasigan said the search for alternative power sources is on. Among them are ethanol and other alternative energy sources as provided under the Biofuels Act. Also, Marasigan said, non-traditional sources such as wind, solar and hydroelectricity are also part and parcel of PEP. "San Carlos City has great potentials for this. Your irrigation highway will generate hydroelectricity. I have seen barangays here in Negros that already powered by the sun. Iloilo, by the way, is preparing for the biomass factory," he said. - GMANews.TV