MARCOS VOWS TO END MINDORO POWER WOES

PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Tuesday promised to provide a sustainable solution to the power supply problem in Occidental Mindoro.

The President said the unreliable power source in the province is a lingering issue that must be promptly addressed.

Mindoro officials have sought the help of the Energy Regulatory Commission to solve the recurring power outages in the province exacerbated by the dry spell brought by El Niño.

"It's expensive now. We are connecting you to the other provinces so the rates would go down the soonest," Marcos said during a a situational briefing in the town of San Jose.

"As of now, there is an additional problem because one plant has tripped, but it is slowly being restored. We're slowly going back to normal because we're able to slowly fix the problem, the echnical problem of the plant. There were speculations that it may have been sabotaged, but upon investigation, there was none. There was just too much load," he added.

Marcos said the government was looking for a long-term holistic solution, incorporating alternative power sources, as well as underwater conduits of energy.

"The long-term solution there is not just solar; the long-term solution also includes wind, hydro, geo, everything. We are studying every power source we could come up with. But as far as Mindoro is concerned, both Oriental and Occidental, we see having a submarine cable being connected to the grid as a long-term solution. This is so that the excess capacity in other areas will not be used up," he added.

Last year, the whole province of Mindoro experienced daily power interruptions lasting as long as 20 hours due to extreme heat.

2024-04-23T16:13:39Z dg43tfdfdgfd