The National Electrification Administration (NEA) on Friday said the power crisis in Siquijor has been “solved,” as President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. led the ceremonial switch-on of the 17.8-megawatt (MW) New Siquijor Diesel Power Plants.
“At exactly 4:30 on August 29, we officially conveyed to Governor Jake Villa and the provincial government of Siquijor that the power crisis is solved,” NEA Administrator Antonio Mariano C. Almeda said on Friday during the event.
Mr. Marcos, who mentioned the Siquijor power crisis in his State of the Nation Address, said the power supply on the island is now sufficient.
“It’s good that upon our return to Siquijor, we can guarantee that we have more than enough electricity supply… I am now confident to say that we have enough supply; we just need to fix our system,” he said.
“If there’s an outage in one area, we now have a system that can shift the supply source from the other power plants,” he added.
The three power plants have a total installed capacity of 17.8 MW, with a guaranteed dependable capacity of 12.25 MW and an N-1 reserve of 1.7 MW.
One 4.4-MW power plant is located in Larena, while another 6.6-MW plant is in Lazi. A 6.8-MW power plant is located in Siquijor. These three plants are expected to provide sufficient power against Siquijor’s 9 MW peak demand.
The government had expedited the development of the three power plants after the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) revoked the authority of Villar-owned Siquijor Island Power Corp. (SIPCOR) to operate due to multiple violations amid continued power supply problems.
“We had to take over the operations of SIPCOR for the simple reason that we cannot see any improvements in how they provide electricity supply,” Mr. Marcos said.
“The government and the PROSIELCO (Province of Siquijor Electric Cooperative) took over the operations to ensure that we can provide what is needed,” he added.
In his SONA last July, Mr. Marcos ordered the restoration of normal electricity service in Siquijor, which was placed under a state of calamity last June due to power interruptions. – Almira Louise S. Martinez