Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Sharon Garin on Thursday, Sept. 3, vowed to expedite the implementation of measures to resolve recurring power interruptions in Iloilo, her home province, and other parts of the Visayas before Christmas.
The Ilongga official said the DOE is rolling out roughly 250 megawatts of battery storage and bringing in floating diesel barges to stabilize the power supply following the series of plant outages that triggered red alerts.
Garin expects power supply alerts to drop this month as new battery storage systems are integrated, though she cautioned that storage capacity alone will not entirely remove the threat of shortages.
“This month, it will be reduced… but it cannot be zero, because battery is storage, not new energy,” she said.
The DOE is also securing power barges to inject additional generation capacity into the grid before the year closes.
“I will work on it so that it is really well before Christmas,” Garin said.
The government, according to the energy secretary, will remain dependent on short-term fixes and existing facilities to meet electricity demands over the next few years, as new baseload generation capacity is not expected until between 2028 and 2030.
Garin said the DOE will also utilize its regulatory powers to hold operators of aging facilities accountable for equipment failures.IMT
