via Diane Querrer
(Tagbilaran City). About 76 percent of power in quake-hit areas of Leyte, Samar and Bohol will be restored by Sunday, the Department of Energy (DOE) said on Friday.
DOE Undersecretary Felix William Fuentebella said an additional 40 megawatts (MW) capacity is expected to come in from the Tongonan Geothermal Power Plants.
According to the DOE’s latest consolidated report, Leyte and Samar provinces already been receiving 135.8 megawatts (MW) of power, while Bohol has been receiving 56.1MW. This comprises about 69% of the requirement of the three islands in the Visayas.
On the instruction of DOE Secretary Alfonso Cusi, Usec. Fuentebella went to Bohol to personally discuss the energy resiliency plan of the provincial government and distribution utilities after the devastating 6.5 magnitude earthquake last July 6.
Fuentebella commended the Bohol government’s initiative for creating a Bohol Energy Development Advisory Group to strategize on the province’s future energy needs, which in turn increases their resiliency in terms of energy.
“This advisory group and the best practices it already has, particularly specified energy plans, can be emulated by other LGUs to be energy-resilient,” Fuentebella said in a radio program aired Friday with Governor Edgardo Chatto. (DOE-PR)
