According to the Department of Energy (DoE), Cebu’s energy demand is projected to reach 1,400 MW within two years, with supply expected to fall short by 2027 unless new baseload power plants are built. This growing demand is driven by the region’s rapid economic expansion.
Central Visayas, the Philippines’ fastest-growing regional economy, recorded a 7.3% growth rate in 2023, increasing its GDP to ₱1.38 trillion from ₱1.29 trillion in 2022. Cebu plays a key role in this expansion, accounting for half of the region’s total energy demand. Meanwhile, Metro Cebu consumes over 500 MW (megawatts), exceeding half of the province-wide demand under the Visayan Electric franchise.
In an interview during The Freeman-sponsored forum, “Powering Cebu: A Cebu Energy Talk,” National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) Assistant Vice President for Regulatory Affairs, Atty. Cynthia Perez-Alabanza, emphasized Cebu’s growing energy demands due to the full reopening of the economy. “All the more Cebu needs more power plants,” she said, underlining the province’s critical role in the region’s energy landscape. “All roads lead to Cebu when we talk about power consumption in the Visayas.”
Cebu depends on power imports from Luzon and Mindanao
Earlier this year, blackouts in Western Visayas led to significant economic losses, with Iloilo alone recording over ₱5 billion in damages. The situation worsened during Panay Island’s outages, as NGCP reported a decline of approximately 178 MW in power reserves across the Central Philippines. Despite a generating capacity of 2,411 MW, the region struggled to meet its system peak demand.
On January 26, the Visayas region faced a tight power reserve margin, with a generating capacity of 2,411 MW and a peak demand of 2,117 MW, leaving only 269 MW in reserve. This was significantly lower than the power reserves in Luzon (3,608 MW) and Mindanao (802 MW), as reported by NGCP.
Cebu, in particular, is grappling with power instability due to a significant gap between its growing demand for electricity and its limited supply capacity.
During the energy forum, NGCP Assistant Vice President and Head of System Operations-Visayas, Neil Martin Modina, presented data on Cebu’s energy sources, which include coal, diesel, and renewable plants from Luzon and Mindanao. “The total capacity is 1,123 (MW), but if you look at our demand, it’s about 1,223 (MW)…so we are lacking around 100 megawatts in Cebu.”
Addressing Cebu’s power deficit
In the past year, the NGCP has completed major infrastructure projects, including the P52-billion Mindanao-Visayas interconnection and the P67-billion Cebu-Negros-Panay transmission initiative. These projects are aimed at connecting the islands of Cebu, Negros, and Panay, allowing for the importation of power from Mindanao and the Luzon grid through a 230kV transmission line.
The NGCP is also set to complete its Cebu-Bohol 230-kiloVolt (kV) interconnection project by December this year, as confirmed by the DoE. With a capacity of 600 MW, the project will enhance the reliability of Bohol’s power supply by enabling direct access to Cebu’s main electricity sources, complementing the current Leyte-Bohol submarine cable.
“We connected Mindanao to Visayas this January 2024. The capacity is 450 megawatts and expandable to another 450 megawatts,” Modina explained. “So, in the future, it would be 900 megawatts of transfer capacity from Mindanao to Visayas, and we are also connected with Luzon. It’s also expandable to another 440 megawatts, so around 880, megawatts of transfer to our Luzon grid.”
However, the Mindanao-Visayas interconnection and Cebu-Negros-Panay transmission projects have faced at least five years of delays, which may have contributed to ongoing power challenges in the Visayas. The Mindanao-Visayas interconnection, initially slated for completion in 2020, was said to have been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and legal disputes.
In July 2023, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) issued a show-cause order to the NGCP, citing delays and non-completion of multiple ERC-approved transmission projects, including 10 involving Cebu. The Cebu-Negros-Panay backbone project, in particular, has seen over six years of delays.
While such projects aim to address challenges such as blackouts and ensure a balanced electricity supply, especially during peak demand, Cebu Governor Gwen Garcia emphasized the urgent need to resolve the power supply issue. In an earlier interview, she stated, “We cannot continue to depend primarily on others for our power. We must achieve self-sufficiency, not by 2027, but right now.”