The Palawan Electric Cooperative (PALECO) is meeting with large establishments to request their participation in voluntary load curtailment (VLC), aiming to reduce the existing power demand.
General Manager Engr. Rez Contrivida said that 15 top-consuming establishments in the city and province are expected to participate in voluntary load curtailment to help reduce sources of demand.
Some leading establishments, such as malls, have already complied with PALECO’s appeal, but there are still some questions about the need to do it.
“Kaso lang meron establishments na meron pa question kaya may meeting kami this afternoon para ma-clarify at makipagsundo sa amin para voluntary load curtailment (However, there are establishments that still have questions, so we have a meeting this afternoon to clarify and come to an agreement with them regarding voluntary load curtailment),” he said.
“Iyon lang naman ang hinihingi namin sa kanila na during the peak period ay mag-transfer muna sila sa mga generators nila, self-generating. Para makabawas sa source ng demand para hindi tayo mag-load shedding (That’s all we’re asking them, to transfer to their own generators during the peak period for self-generating. To reduce the source of demand so we won’t have to do load shedding),” Contrivida added.
The current demand reaches 65 megawatts (MW), which is sometimes almost the same level as the supply produced by the three power providers. PALECO encounters a problem when the surge reaches 66 MW at a certain period of time due to the heat level.
If all establishments will voluntarily switch to their self-generation for two hours during the peak hours, Contrivida said about a 3 to 5 MW daily reduction from demand will be observed.
The electric cooperative’s management is also requesting voluntary load curtailment of large establishments in El Nido to help reduce the demand, currently reaching 6.23 MW. The existing power supply distributed by PALECO from the National Power Corporation (NPC) is only 5.85 MW.
“[Magkakaroon ng load] shedding [sa El Nido] during peak hours. Doon ay nagpapa-create din ako ng voluntary load curtailment total maliit lang naman ang kanilang kakulangan (There will be load shedding in El Nido during peak hours. There, I am also creating voluntary load curtailment as their shortage is only small),” he said.
The expected additional 3 MW will arrive by May or June, he added. NPC wrote to PALECO on April 24 to conduct load shedding to prevent overloading and potential total shutdown of the power supply.
The demand has been observed to continuously increase, and load shedding will be implemented until additional capacity becomes available. The proposal was to implement load shedding during peak hours from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
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