By Danny O. Calleja
Catanduanes has turned to the government's power agencies for immediate interventions as crisis hits the supply of electricity in the province.
"We are experiencing paralysis of our economic activities under this severe situation of power shortage that is hitting the province with six to eight hours brownouts. We need immediate interventions from the Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Power Corp. to avert it," Gov. Joseph Cua said last weekend.
In a statement, Cua said that in behalf of the province's 35,000 energy consumers, he is bringing the matter personally to DOE Sec. Rene Almendras and NPC president Froilan Tampinco.
It was very unfortunate that the problem broke out three days after the visit to the island province of Pres. Benigno S. Aquino III early this month to lead the ceremonial switching-on ceremony of the two mini-hydroelectric power plants built and operated by the Sunwest Water and Electric Company, a private industrial developer based in this city.
During his May 2 visit, the President also inaugurated the multi-million-peso Doppler radar weather monitoring facilities installed by Japanese engineers in Bato, Catanduanes.
The two new power plants backed up by another hydropower facility owned by the NPC have a total rated capacity of 5.4 megawatts or 80 percent of the province's electricity requirement.
Low water levels in its reservoirs however have reportedly reduced its capabilities to only two MWs during peak hours and one MW during off-peak hours.
The situation was aggravated by the breakdown of the bunker-fuel generator set of the Catanduanes Power Generation, Inc. (CPGI) allegedly caused by a defective fuel purifier.
CPGI, an independent power producer is under contract with the First Catanduanes Electric cooperative (Ficelco) for the supply of 3.6-megawatt to the province's power grid.
Owing to these debacles, the entire island of Catanduanes is now experiencing six to eight hours daily brownouts that started last May 4.
The CPGI has ceased operations while invoking that it cannot be held liable over the damages caused by power outages for reasons beyond its control.
Cua said he is seeking the intervention of Sec. Almendras for the immediate provision of three generators sets with a combined capacity of 4.5 megawatts that could be operated in place of the CPGI's power plant.
Cua said: "The generators I am asking for are those that were originally included in the 2012 budget for the NPC's Small Power Utilities Group in Catanduanes.
"But (they) were deferred with the inclusion of the province with the areas placed under the Private Sector Participation program for power generation.
"The inclusion phases out the existing NPC local operations in favor of new private providers."
It was found out that even with the presence of private hydropower facilities, the province still needs those generator sets of the NPC to serve as back up electricity suppliers under the same situation besetting it, he said.
"We cannot afford further power outages particularly now that the province is at the height of economic activities that are seen to improve the living conditions of the people of the island. Our trade and commerce, tourism and agricultural industries are booming but it will certainly go home to square one once this power crisis situation is not remedied at once," he stressed.
Perhaps, NPC Pres. Tampinco could reconsider the provision of the three 1.25-MWgensets for the province in a long-term basis "as we now consider these facilities as the power supplier of last resort given the incompetence of the CPGI to provide stable power", Cua added.
The restoration of the budget for the aborted acquisition of these gensets were among the issues discussed among the Department of Budget Management, NPC and Cua with Pres. Aquino during the recent presidential visit.
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