A day after key National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) officials met with the governor to reassure Bohol of the government transmission service, tensions calmed down.
Weeks earlier, darkness blanketed Bohol and in the occasion of the blinking series lights season, Bohol had its share of the on-off disappointments.
Consumers started to complain of broken appliances, businesses raised a howl over lost potentials and losing commerce, while politicians who capitalized on vote recall cried the loudest.
It is along this taut situation that the NGCP meeting came at the proper time: before everything could explode into a bleak scenario.
By now, Bohol is using about 80 megawatts of power just to get by. A local source of power, three hydro power plants: Loboc, Ewon in Sevilla and Hanopol in Balilihan plus the Dampas Diesel Power Plant can produce less than 20 megawatts.
Unfortunately, these have been sent to a pool tapped into the Visayas Grid.
In return, Bohol largely gets its supply from the Tongonan Geothermal Plant in Leyte.
A 138 Kilovolt line is now straddling the mountains of Leyte, Southern Leyte and then down to Maasin where a submarine cable brings the power to Tugas Point in Carlos P Garcia where it resumes into overhead transmission across Popoo to Imelda in Ubay where a substation boosts the power for Bohol distribution. From there, two lines string overhead in steel towers: to complete the Bohol circuits to Corella.
The Haiyan experience of the 138 KV line which got compromised when steel towers in Leyte toppled, Bohol saw the sad plight.
Until that single line from Leyte is made redundant, that is practically a situation Bohol is held hostage. Of course, a similar line that crosses Leyte to Bohol is a logical given.
Or an independent island based power supply in Bohol enough to get us the 100MW of power we would need when Panglao Airport would start operating.
The airport plan has long been set, but the plan to put in the power to energize the main tourism service hub, we heard of none.
When then Governor Rene Relampagos (start of the 69KV upgraded to 138KV in Gov Erico Aumentado’s time), they moved heaven and earth to get the tap.
The hydro power in Ewon Sevilla stood and a plan to build the Bien Unido Solar field blossomed as they explored other sources of energy, Then there was a move to eke out power from the Cantakoy Falls. Whatever happened to these, none came out in the news later.
Governor Edgar Chatto, in his term, has put up the Bohol Energy Development Advisory Group after the Yolanda black-out.
To date, three years after, not one of the 10 interested power investors which Capitol has trumpeted after the two Power Congresses have put in their power facilities.
And we hear of the Capitol lambasting NGCP for a clear technical problem.
