Mindanao Outages From Supply Lack

Manila Bulletin
By MYRNA M. VELASCO
February 23, 2012, 8:00am


MANILA, Philippines — As the ‘blame-game’ escalates on the protracted brownouts hitting hapless Mindanao consumers, system operator National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) set on record that the real cause of power interruptions is “generation deficiency,” meaning there is shortfall in power supply that can be wheeled to end-users.


NGCP emphasized that “the cause of the daily power curtailment in the Mindanao grid is the acute shortage of power in the region, not any transmission-related issue.”


NGCP spokesperson Cynthia Perez-Alabanza noted that while the company has an ancillary services procurement agreement (ASPA) with Therma Marine Inc. (TMI) of the Aboitiz group, it is solely for its ancillary services requirements – entailing that such contracted power will be for it to sustain reserve as well as for power reliability and quality in the system.


“We want to clarify that our contract with TMI is only for ancillary services, not for the supply of power for the consumption of end-users,” Alabanza said, noting further that under the law and existing regulations, NGCP “is not allowed to contract with power generators for the supply to end-users.”


The grid operator aired that “some members of the public sector are concerned that the expiration of the ASPA with TMI will lessen available capacity in the Mindanao grid,” but Alabanza refuted it would not have been the case since the contracted power for ancillary services will only be utilized for what they are intended to be.


She pointed out that supply contracting obligation “belongs to the local distribution utility or cooperative,” therefore, “the load curtailment and power interruptions currently experienced in Mindanao are attributed to generation deficiency or lack of power supply generated by plants.”


For this week, NGCP assessed that peak demand will be reaching 1,261 megawatts, but available capacity would only hover at 1,112MW, thus, there is an apparent shortage in supply.


Energy Undersecretary Josefina Patricia Asirit earlier indicated that many parts in Mindanao will be plunged into four-to-eight hour power interruptions again this year, chiefly during the peak demand months of summer that may start April.


While there are options, the energy official admitted that these would entail additional costs in the electric bills because the sources are more expensive technologies, such as the diesel-fired plants and power barges.


It must be noted that the southernmost grid had been continuously hit by power interruptions in the past two years. Despite the government’s pronouncements that solutions are being sorted out, nothing really materialized until this time.


There have been proposals to put up 200 megawatts of solar in the grid – touted as ‘the easiest to install’ technology – but the cost implications have been hobbling project proponents. Luzon and Visayas consumers are also not necessarily amenable to shouldering additional costs arising from that propounded ‘Mindanao solution’, given that even these two grids are also facing dilemmas when it comes to their power supply.