Power plants commit supply availability on election day

by Myrna Velasco April 26, 2016

http://www.mb.com.ph/power-plants-commit-supply-availability-on-election-day/

Partly out of fear that they will be thrown into the spotlight for any probability of brownout-scarred poll outcome, the power plant owners were prompted to firmly commit to the Department of Energy (DOE) that their power plant capacities will be available on May 9.

In a statement to the media, the DOE has affirmed that on election day, it may just be one unit of the Kalayaan hydro power plant that will not be on-line that day.

“All power generators will be running at full capacity during elections except for the 180-megawatt Kalayaan 4 which extended its maintenance until May 14, 2016,” the department said.

For Mindanao, in particular, the DOE emphasized that “dispatch of water resource for hydropower plants is being managed to ensure that there will be higher production during the critical period.”

Energy Secretary Zenaida Y. Monsada met with the generation companies (GenCos) on Monday (April 25) “to discuss their work plans and commitments for the critical election period.”

Talks centered mainly on the conduct of scheduled maintenance services of the power plants and when exactly they can come back on stream – in time for the one-week-before and one-week-after prohibition on election-linked plant downtimes.

Monsada said “we are nearing completion of preparations to ensure the readiness of the systems and power stakeholders who have roles to play (on) election day.”

The department appeared to have been given a dry-run when Luzon grid was plunged into rolling brownouts recently due to the simultaneous scheduled maintenance of some power plants.

Additionally, energy efficiency (EE) and conservation measures are in the menu of options laid down by the energy department.

It emphasized that big load customers, such as malls, are being engaged primarily on their support for EE initiatives – like setting their cooling system temperatures at 25 degrees centigrade.

Power supply is seen critical not only on the duration of votes casting, but also at the counting phase and transmission of poll results.

Thus, the energy chief gave word that the entire energy sector has been “in close coordination to provide uninterrupted electricity services as we all desire for a clean and unquestionable holding of elections.”