Throughout these past couple years (particularly during the election), politicians have been touting the “energy powerhouse” they claim Negros Occidental to be. Promoting the opening of the largest solar farm in Southeast Asia and publicizing the opening of biomass plants; in addition, a couple months ago, National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) Western Visayas Information Officer Michelle Vicera claimed the supply of electricity in the Visayas is “abundant.” Given all of those factors, it should be assumed energy in the province should not only be constant, but reliable. 

Yet, why are brownouts and blackouts still so common? Why are weekend power outages almost routine? Why does the “system loss” for a local utility cooperative continue to register higher than those reported for entire countries?

There is something missing in all of this.

If, in fact, electricity is so abundant, then there is something flawed in the delivery of electricity. For an organization that portends they are “committed to deliver the highest quality services,” the Central Negros Electric Cooperative, Inc. (Ceneco) is certainly falling short if there really is abundant energy flowing throughout the province. Unless, Bacolod City and the surrounding areas are receiving “the highest quality services,” then NGCP is fibbing about how much energy is available to local residents.

In terms of the continuity of electric power, the ultra-hyped renewable energy plants should be augmenting the power grid of the region. Again, why are power interruptions still so common?

If one were to look at Negros Occidental as an example of how renewable energy works, would assume the number of skeptics would multiply exponentially – yet, somehow, despite the reality of frequent blackouts, elected officials still want to play the average citizen for a fool and claim (something the Ceneco website also asserts) the area is equipped with an “electricity service provider of international standards.”

The World Economic Forum recently put out a report on renewable energy, citing China as the world leader in renewable energy. They noted, “Power from wind, solar, and hydro plants is often wasted as there is not enough transmission capacity to absorb it, leading to high curtailment rates.” As a solution, the Chinese plans to provide more infrastructure to better utilize their energy.

“[China] will promote the power trade market and improve its cross-region power transmission capacity to boost renewable energy consumption,” the report noted.

Is that what’s missing in the province? Is there a necessity for more infrastructure to better incorporate the additional power into the grid? Would have assumed that was why renewable energy plants were constructed in the first place; why pour billions of pesos into a structure but equip it with insufficient connections?

It has been said before in previous columns about the “necessity” for local utility cooperatives, and even the NGCP, to schedule day-long power interruptions for the purpose of “maintenance activity.”

For one who unfamiliar with customs outside of what is provided locally, the repeated power interruptions would appear to be standard operation procedure. However, for those who have lived for extended periods abroad, it would be unheard-of for an electricity company to shut off power for an entire day for “maintenance.”

If that were the case, then in the nearly 30 years of living in the United States, power companies in New Jersey and California never once conducted maintenance activity at their respective facilities.

If the current system in use is an archaic one – one that requires power to be shut down for “maintenance” – then, how exactly does Ceneco call themselves an “electricity service provider of international standards” and claim to “deliver the highest quality services?”

Is this another case of the situation discussed in the prior column, about local elites (i.e. politicians and business leaders) preying on locals who perhaps have never experienced life outside the borders of the Philippines and lead them to believe unreliable and second-rate service is the “international standard?”

Renewable energy would be a great boon to the province and the country; albeit inadequate given the tolerance public officials have for billowing clouds of exhaust spewing from obsolete jeepneys and outdated cargo trucks, an acceptance of mass littering, and average citizens regularly burning garbage in their front yards. If the country made an effort on all aspects of a problem and not just throw money into one, it would look more like a genuine effort rather than a token policy.

Plus, while every sector of the energy industry wants to claim abundance, efficiency, and reliability – with none of it actually being delivered – the average citizen gains nothing and public money continues to be thrown into projects that only end up being used as background scenery for political advertisements./WDJ