CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines — Advocates for reforms in the power sector have asked the Department of Energy (DOE) to reveal “in clear-cut terms” the power supply situation in Mindanao, as the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) continues to implement load-shedding, which results in brownouts.
Salvador Feranil, convenor of the civil society alliance Power Sector Alternative Agenda in Mindanao (Palag Mindanao), said the “vague pronouncements on our power supply capacity hitting a critical level does not explain but only creates confusion about what we are actually experiencing.”
Last week, Energy Secretary Rene Almendras said the power supply situation in Mindanao has turned critical and then called an emergency meeting with power industry stakeholders.
But the DOE dished out no concrete figures relating to the supposed critical power supply situation.
“I can’t understand why these information need to be kept from the public’s appreciation,” Feranil said.
An advisory from the Cagayan de Oro Electric Power and Light Company (Cepalco) said the NGCP has “imposed power curtailments all over Mindanao due to a power supply shortage affecting the entire Mindanao Island.”
“According to NGCP, the power supply shortage is due to the maintenance outage of the National Power Corporation’s (NPC) Pulangi 4 (Unit 1) and Agus 6 (Unit 1) hydroelectric plants; non-operation of Therma Marine’s two power barges and reduced capabilities of some other NPC hydro plants.”
The Therma Marine power barges are now owned by the Aboitiz group through a sale transaction with the NPC early this year.
Due to the NGCP load-shedding call, Cepalco has implemented a two-and-a-half-hour rotating brownout throughout its service area, primarily Cagayan de Oro City, from September 24 to October 1, except on Saturdays and Sundays.
Rotating brownouts have also been experienced in Misamis Occidental since September 21, and the power cutoffs are seen to last until September 30.
An advisory from the Misamis Occidental Electric Cooperative Inc. (MOELCI) outlined 3.5 hours of brownout per feeder area beginning 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
On September 23, the NGCP website showed that Mindanao suffered some 104 megawatts of power generation shortfall because available capacity that time only stood at 1,094 megawatts as against peak load demand of 1,198 megawatts.
On September 28, the shortfall went down to 24 megawatts with available capacity at 1,144 megawatts while peak load demand stood at 1,168 megawatts.
These demand and supply figures are almost the same as that middle of February, just a week before Mindanao plunged into deeper power crisis because of falling levels of water that supports hydro-power generation.
Mindanao has some 1,600 megawatts of dependable power generating capacity, 970 megawatts of which are hydro-based.
On September 23, the Visayas grid was experiencing a 167-megawatt shortfall while 189 megawatts on September 28. However, the region has not experienced any brownout since four months ago.
Feranil admitted that Palag Mindanao is worried the DOE “is trying to paint a gloomy power supply scenario to lay the premise for the privatization of the Agus-Pulangi hydroelectric generation complex.”
“But this suspicion can be erased by appropriate information disclosure. Let us know the true reason for the reduced power generating capacity,” said Feranil.
He added that if the facts surrounding the issue remained vague, the power supply problem could be attributed to “inefficiencies supposedly inherent in the operation of government-owned and controlled corporations, which is a reasoning favorable to privatization.”
As an alliance, Palag Mindanao was organized to campaign against the privatization of the Agus-Pulangi power generation complexes. The complex’s 10-year sale moratorium under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) expires next year.
“The lessons of the MWSS privatization is instructive that placing a public utility operation in the hands of the private sector does not necessarily result in efficiency. We don’t want the same mistake to be committed in the power sector of Mindanao and have us suffer for a long period of time,” Feranil stressed.
Salvador Feranil, convenor of the civil society alliance Power Sector Alternative Agenda in Mindanao (Palag Mindanao), said the “vague pronouncements on our power supply capacity hitting a critical level does not explain but only creates confusion about what we are actually experiencing.”
Last week, Energy Secretary Rene Almendras said the power supply situation in Mindanao has turned critical and then called an emergency meeting with power industry stakeholders.
But the DOE dished out no concrete figures relating to the supposed critical power supply situation.
“I can’t understand why these information need to be kept from the public’s appreciation,” Feranil said.
An advisory from the Cagayan de Oro Electric Power and Light Company (Cepalco) said the NGCP has “imposed power curtailments all over Mindanao due to a power supply shortage affecting the entire Mindanao Island.”
“According to NGCP, the power supply shortage is due to the maintenance outage of the National Power Corporation’s (NPC) Pulangi 4 (Unit 1) and Agus 6 (Unit 1) hydroelectric plants; non-operation of Therma Marine’s two power barges and reduced capabilities of some other NPC hydro plants.”
The Therma Marine power barges are now owned by the Aboitiz group through a sale transaction with the NPC early this year.
Due to the NGCP load-shedding call, Cepalco has implemented a two-and-a-half-hour rotating brownout throughout its service area, primarily Cagayan de Oro City, from September 24 to October 1, except on Saturdays and Sundays.
Rotating brownouts have also been experienced in Misamis Occidental since September 21, and the power cutoffs are seen to last until September 30.
An advisory from the Misamis Occidental Electric Cooperative Inc. (MOELCI) outlined 3.5 hours of brownout per feeder area beginning 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
On September 23, the NGCP website showed that Mindanao suffered some 104 megawatts of power generation shortfall because available capacity that time only stood at 1,094 megawatts as against peak load demand of 1,198 megawatts.
On September 28, the shortfall went down to 24 megawatts with available capacity at 1,144 megawatts while peak load demand stood at 1,168 megawatts.
These demand and supply figures are almost the same as that middle of February, just a week before Mindanao plunged into deeper power crisis because of falling levels of water that supports hydro-power generation.
Mindanao has some 1,600 megawatts of dependable power generating capacity, 970 megawatts of which are hydro-based.
On September 23, the Visayas grid was experiencing a 167-megawatt shortfall while 189 megawatts on September 28. However, the region has not experienced any brownout since four months ago.
Feranil admitted that Palag Mindanao is worried the DOE “is trying to paint a gloomy power supply scenario to lay the premise for the privatization of the Agus-Pulangi hydroelectric generation complex.”
“But this suspicion can be erased by appropriate information disclosure. Let us know the true reason for the reduced power generating capacity,” said Feranil.
He added that if the facts surrounding the issue remained vague, the power supply problem could be attributed to “inefficiencies supposedly inherent in the operation of government-owned and controlled corporations, which is a reasoning favorable to privatization.”
As an alliance, Palag Mindanao was organized to campaign against the privatization of the Agus-Pulangi power generation complexes. The complex’s 10-year sale moratorium under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) expires next year.
“The lessons of the MWSS privatization is instructive that placing a public utility operation in the hands of the private sector does not necessarily result in efficiency. We don’t want the same mistake to be committed in the power sector of Mindanao and have us suffer for a long period of time,” Feranil stressed.
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