ICSC: Coal ban easing won’t fix Visayas power woes

ILOILO CITY — Lifting restrictions on coal-fired power plants in Negros and Bohol would not be the proper response to recurring power problems in the Visayas, a Quezon City-based climate think tank said Tuesday, Oct. 13.

In a statement, the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (ICSC) opposed proposals to ease restrictions on coal-fired power plants in Negros and Bohol, saying recurring power alerts in the Visayas highlight the need for flexible energy sources rather than simply more generation capacity.

The climate and energy policy group said localized supply constraints in Cebu, Negros and Bohol require a combination of dependable generation from indigenous sources, such as geothermal energy, and flexible technologies, including solar power and battery energy storage systems.

ICSC energy transition adviser Alberto Dalusung III said recurring outages at coal-fired power plants showed the need to improve how the power system responds to changing demand.

“Facilities like Therma Visayas Inc. Unit 1 (TVI 1) and Unit 2 (TVI 2) [in Toledo City, Cebu], which have suffered extensive unplanned outages, were only commissioned in 2019. At just seven years old, these failures are clearly not due to aging equipment,” Dalusung said.

“Rather, they stem from how we operate our power system, forcing inherently inflexible thermal plants to constantly cycle up and down to match fluctuating demand. Adding more coal plants into a system that desperately needs flexibility will only repeat this damaging pattern,” he added.

ICSC cited prolonged outages involving four generating units in the Visayas this year.

These included Therma Visayas Inc. Units 1 and 2 in Toledo City, Cebu, each with a capacity of 150 megawatts; Panay Energy Development Corp. Unit 3 in La Paz, Iloilo City, also at 150 MW; and Cebu Energy Development Corp. Unit 1 in Toledo City at 82 MW.

The group said TVI Unit 1 was offline for 148 days from May 3 to Sept. 28.

TVI Unit 2, meanwhile, was unavailable for 167 days from March to August, plus several days in September, according to ICSC.

The group said PEDC Unit 3 had been offline for 44 days since Aug. 29, with its target return pushed to late October.

Cebu Energy Development Corp. Unit 1 was also offline for 42 consecutive days between July and September, ICSC said.

ICSC noted that coal accounts for about 60% of the country’s electricity generation, leaving the power sector heavily exposed to global fuel markets.

It argued that new coal plants would not address immediate supply problems because they take years to develop, require transmission infrastructure and carry fuel-cost risks.

The think tank said solar power and battery energy storage system facilities should not be treated separately but instead integrated as key sources of immediate electricity supply and stored energy throughout the day.

“Solar and BESS should not be treated merely as a short-term fix to the unfolding power crisis in the Visayas. They are the core solution for both the short and long term,” Dalusung said.

“The solution should therefore focus on technologies that can be deployed quickly and provide the flexibility that the grid actually needs, particularly solar energy and battery storage,” he added.

The Department of Energy said in May that the country’s moratorium on new coal-fired power plants remained in effect, although existing rules allow exceptions for certain projects, including those considered necessary to avert an imminent power supply crisis.

In September, the DOE outlined plans to add 253 MW of ancillary service capacity across the Visayas, including battery storage projects in Cebu, Leyte, Negros, Bohol and Panay.

The agency also cited plans for additional generation capacity and a transmission interconnection to improve power security in Western Visayas.

A joint congressional hearing held in Bacolod City on Oct. 3 examined recurring power interruptions across the Visayas, including problems involving generation and transmission, and sought immediate remedies and longer-term measures to stabilize electricity supply.

ICSC said grid reliability requires not only additional generation but also adequate transmission infrastructure, reserves and a diverse mix of energy sources with different operating roles.

“With the sufficient baseload capacity the Philippines has at the national level, persisting localized power supply constraints in Visayas reflect the need for energy planning to account for localized energy needs and prioritize indigenous energy sources,” they said in their statement.

The group also called for faster deployment of battery storage and indigenous renewable energy, alongside dependable local power sources, to help protect consumers from future outages.