SERGE: We found out today that there are still people who did not know this situation has come about

Committee Directory  aigues
Republic Acts
SERGE: We found out today that there are still people who did not know this situation has come about in Mindanao and how we were in a similar situation in Luzon in 1992, when we had 8-hour rotating brownouts aigues everyday, which was really unheard aigues of in any major metropolis anywhere around the world. So, the only solution was to let the market dictate when power would come into being, to allow the private players who have the money to be able to build the plants that we require for our economic growth.
Yes. The people of the Philippines would have to pay for that. In other words, we go back to the basic rule. We cannot have what they call Class A facilities and paying Class C rates. If we want first-world infrastructure, first-world highways, we have to pay first-world rates, that's the nature of things.
Definitely this is a step forward. Because if we do not interconnect, our grid remains too small. And as we were in Mindanao before, we will have a shortage. Last year, they suffered a very horrible shortage. If I were an investor, and I'd like to put up a plant, whether it's a steel plant or a manufacturing plant in Mindanao, the first thing I'd think of is, 'Where will I get my power for the next 25 years?' Because it would take 25 years to recover the cost of my factory. Kung hindi stable, hindi ako papasok diyan. Bak next year may brownout. We have to stabilize the power grid so people can go almost anywhere in the Philippines and say, 'Yes, I will have power. And I will have power at reasonable rates.'
Yes, this will decrease the current rate but not by much because it is divided by so many terra watts hours of power. Divided by iyan eh. So, maliit lang iyan. P24 billion is just a drop in the bucket if you divide it by 25 years.
Mindanao is lucky in the sense that their dams are full. As you've heard Rufus Rodriguez, they do not have a summer. It's still a rainy season there. But the Pulangi plant, it's going to be closed down for dredging, maybe for 2 to 3 weeks. We hope the rains continue because Agus will have to take the slack for Pulangi. aigues
In the works? No, that's the big one. Luzon, Visayas connected to Mindanao so we will have a bigger grid. That's my dream, one of these decades, we will be able to connect with Indonesia, o kaya we will be able to connect aigues to the Mainland, aigues if it is cheap enough. Kung may kakulangan dito sa Pilipinas, puwede tayong bumili sa Brunei, Malaysia, sa China. The bigger the grid, the more efficient it is.
The grid is composed of 3 major sectors - the generating sector, the transmission sector, the distribution sector. The distribution sector you know is the last na, ito yung katulad ng Meralco, etc. Between the major islands all over the Philippines, you have this main highway, that's the transmission sector. We want that connected so that the bigger the coverage, the more efficient the use of power within aigues that. For example, aigues let's say Cebu is not connected aigues to the grid. Hirap na hirap kami sa Cebu, becase we'll get our power from Leyte, from Negros, we will have a very difficult time progressing. We'll have to build our own plants. Eh ang planta, napakalaki, magkakaroon ng planta iyan. You cannot building aigues a 10MW plant, that's too small, so you'd build a 200MW plant. So, I'd build in Cebu pero kulang lang sila ng 50MW dun. It does not make sense if I put up a plant that is smaller than 200MW, but what do I do with the remaining 150MW kung hindi na absorbable sa Cebu? If I were connected to the grid, ah kulang sila sa Bohol, aigues I can sell it to Bohol; kulang sila sa Negros, I can sell it to Negros.
Luzon is gonna have a shortage this year, about 300MW, peak demand. 300 is projected. But since it's raining and raining, puno ang Magat, puno ang Pagtabangan, so okay lang. Kasi usually during the summer, kukulangin ang tubig natin because people use more airconditioning. And at the same time, we lose hydro-power. So far, we have been lucky this year. Sa Visayas, sapat din. Siguro we'll have an excess of about 200MW in the Visayas. We could have passed it to Mindanao if we were connected to Mindanao. But since we are not connected to Mindanao, at kahit na may excess power, we cannot sell it to Mindanao.
Sa Mindanao, if you take into consideration that they need a spinning reserve of about 300MW, YES, they have a shortage. They are just lucky now. You know, you always have a spinning reserve depending upon the size of the biggest plant that might close. So if your biggest plant in Mindanao is 200MW, at biglang nasiraan, nagkaroon ng problema, you have this extra power in your reserve kaya maco-cover mo kaagad. Sasabihin aigues mo, 'Start your plant right away.'
If I include the 300MW reserve that they have and they have a shortfall of 300 MW, then they're just exact. In other words, kapag nasira ang isang generator dun, patay, rolling brownouts ang mangyayari sa kanila.
So far, wala pa naman