Timely warning

The ideal total generation capacity for Mindanao should be 1,728 MW in 2013 and 2,206 MW in 2019, with a reserve margin of at least 21 percent of peak demand. Right now, however, the dependable capacity in Mindanao is only 1,616 MW, or a reserve shortfall of 112 MW for this year. Beyond the troubling math, PIDS laments that Mindanao is “heavily dependent on hydropower, which has become unreliable in the face of the worsening deforestation of watersheds and siltation of river systems,” with the Agus and Pulangi hydropower plants “in a poor state and rely[ing] heavily on favorable weather.” And more bad news: The energy gap can only be filled in 2015, when a new coal-power plant in Sarangani would already have been built to supply an additional 105 MW. That means, in other words, Mindanao residents will have to suffer scorching-hot summers without electric fans and air-conditioning units to beat the heat, while entrepreneurs will be reduced to twiddling their thumbs waiting for the electricity to surge in the sockets of their establishments or factories. We cannot overemphasize the urgent need to address the electricity shortage in Mindanao, particularly since the government wants to accelerate economic development in the entire region with peace talks already in an advanced stage and a comprehensive peace agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front not far in the horizon.