The holiday’s increasing power demand will almost only equal the decrease in the electricity consumption of the local offices that are taking a vacation break, said the System Operations Section (SOS) chief of PALECO Thursday.
Engr. Renato Briones, the SOS head of the Palawan Electric Cooperative (PALECO), told Palawan Daily News (PDN) Thursday this will just bring the overall power demand in the province to a break-even point.
“Sa mga panahon na ‘yan, holiday season, expected natin na maraming gagamit ng kuryente pero mababawasan naman ‘yong sa offices kasi holiday nga. Nasa holiday break. So sa forecasting namin, sa mga panahon na ‘yan, hindi siya katulad ng peak natin ng summer [season],” said Engr. Briones.
Briones said they expect a maximum of around 50-megawatt (MW) per day of province-wide power demand, specifically from December 23, 2019 to January 3 next year.
Briones said they have a total contracted capacity of about 80 MWs daily, which is more than sufficient for this need.
“Ang power supply natin wala naman pong naka-schedule na maintenance ‘yong mga power plant so as is pa rin ‘yong supply natin, enough siya. Ang hindi lang po namin ma-ensure is kung magka-problema nang hindi inaasahan sa transmission tsaka kung mag-breakdown ‘yong power plant. Pero tingin ko kung isa o dalawang unit lang [ang mag-breakdown], kaya pang-i-augment,” said Briones.
In preparation for the holidays, he added PALECO is still conducting this week its vegetation-clearing operations on the transmission lines.