Solutions to Mindanao power crisis needed now

Emergency powers required to fast track solutions.

Consumer welfare advocate and billionaire Raul Concepcion is calling on the government to immediately present short-term but immediate solutions to the power crisis in Mindanao island.

He said the long-term solutions proposed by the Department of Energy will only be implemented starting 2015. This, he said, means that the government needs to look at short-term solutions that can be immediately implemented.

If left unsolved, the Mindanao power crisis could derail the government’s economic development programs.

He called on President Benigno Simeon Aquino to reconsider his earlier position that he does not need emergency powers in dealing with the power crisis in southern Philippines.

DOE earlier offered three solutions to immediately bridge the supply gap in Mindanao. These are the Interruptible Load Program; the Interim Mindanao Electricity Market and the utilization of generator sets by electric cooperatives.

The government said new coal, geothermal, diesel and mini hydro power plants will be online in Mindanao in two years. Mindanao’s power-generation mix is 35% non-renewable energy and 65% renewable energy. Hydro plants contribute 55% of Mindanao’s energy.