BUSINESS MIRROR
MONDAY, 18 APRIL 2011 20:50 MANUEL T. CAYON / REPORTER
DAVAO CITY—Power distributors and electric cooperatives have resorted to an average of one-hour brownout on rotation basis as transmission company, the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP), slashed 350 megawatts (MW) of power supply to the entire Mindanao grid beginning on Monday.The Davao Light and Power Co. said it would begin imposing one hour brownout on rotation on Monday until Sunday. The Zamboanga City Electric Cooperative (Zamcelco) also issued an advisory to do the same but did not say when it would begin imposing the brownouts.
The NGCP was yet to issue a public statement although it informed distribution companies on Friday last week that it was cutting down supply due to reduced power production of the hydroelectric plants in the Agus River in the Lanao provinces.
The Pulangi IV plant in Maramag, Bukidnon, the other major power generation plant outside the Agus River complex, also began maintenance and repair works on Monday and had to “undergo dewatering of power channel and urgent inspection,” according to the statement released by the Davao Light.
The NGCP sent a letter on Friday to Mindanao utilities, including Davao Light, “notifying a 100 MW load curtailment due to a significant reduction of the power that will be generated for the Mindanao grid”, the Davao Light said.
“This was due to NPC Pulangi 4 hydroelectric plant’s (HEP), with a peaking capacity of 185 MW. The letter also mentioned of unscheduled outages of NPC’s Agus 6 HEP Unit 2 and Agus 7 Unit 2 in Lake Lanao in Lanao del Sur,” the Davao Light said.
It added that the NGCP would initially cut power supply by 300 MW and later increase it to 350 MW.
Zamcelco, on the other hand, said “the NGCP advisory coming from the Mindanao Regional Control Center in Iligan City stated that the grid-wide load curtailment is due to the contingency/operating reserve that is approaching zero attributed to generation deficiency caused by reduced capacity of the Agus hydroelectric plants and the scheduled plant shutdown of the Pulangi 4 HEP”.
Zamcelco distributes power to Zamboanga City and the surrounding areas and was told by NGCP that it would cut eight megawatts from its regular load beginning on Friday. Davao Light & Power Co. franchise area covers the cities of Davao and Panabo and the municipalities of Carmen, Dujali and Sto. Tomas of Davao del Norte.
The NGCP could not be immediately contacted although sources in the agency, speaking on condition of anonymity, said maintenance and repair works on the generation facilities were commonly done during the Holy Week “because of the expected small demand for electricity”.
IN PHOTO -- File photo shows a power transmission line operated by the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines in Pampanga.
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