Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Supply shortage prompts Mindanao power outages anew


By John Unson (philstar.com) Updated August 07, 2012 12:28 PM 


COTABATO CITY, Philippines– Power is again being rationed in Kidapawan City and surrounding towns in North Cotabato for two weeks now owing to lack of supply from the National Power Corporation (Napocor).
Vicente Baguio, spokesman of the Cotabato Electric Cooperative (Cotelco), said a 30-minute to one-hour power curtailment is again being implemented daily in the areas they serve due to the reduction of supply from the state-run Pulangi 4 hydro-electric plant in Bukidnon’s Maramag town.
The water level at the catchment dam from where water propels the plant has been low despite the recent heavy downpours in surrounding hinterlands and watersheds in surrounding areas.
Cotelco officials said the Napocor has just increased by 100 megawatts more the 200 MW supply curtailment it has been imposing for several months now.
The Pulangi 4 facility was shut for the entire month of May for rehabilitation and extensive maintenance check, during which Cotelco imposed a five to six-hour rationing of power in Kidapawan City and surrounding towns.
The Napocor said it spent P11 million for the rehabilitation of the power plant.
“Despite it having been rehabilitated, power supply remain curtailed. We’ve been experiencing brownouts again in our service areas,” Baguio pointed out.
Baguio assured, however, that the effect this time of power supply reduction is not as serious as what had been experienced in previous months.
This, according to to Baguio, is due to the Cotelco’s compensation with power by the private Therma Marine, Inc. (TMI) of the Aboitiz Corporation.
The TMI supplies North Cotabato and Kidapawan City with additional 28 MW of power every day.
“With this, we only have a 30-minute to one hour brownout every day,” Baguio said.    source

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