However, transmission lines are down and will take more than two months to repair
Just one year ago Jericho Petilla was debating whether to accept President Benigno Aquino III’s offer to head the energy department. At the time he was the governor of Leyte province, in the central Philippines, one of the areas hit hardest last week by Typhoon Haiyan.
He accepted the position, and is currently the country’s energy secretary, and Leyte is again his main priority as he wrestles with restoring power to an island endowed with rich geothermal resources, but currently without a way to get them where they’re needed.
The geothermal fields throughout the province have installed capacity of 701 MWe, and the power they produce is transmitted via underwater cable to the neighboring islands of Samar, Negros, Cebu and even the main island of Luzon, where the capital Manila is located.
While Cebu, Negros and Luzon all have other energy sources, however, Samar and Leyte rely mainly on the electricity generated by the geothermal stations and transmitted through above-ground cables. And though the stations are still running, Haiyan toppled many of the transmissions towers that help deliver the power they generate – leaving the two islands in darkness.
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