Order seen easing Mindanao power woes

Business World Online
Posted on March 23, 2012 06:04:30 PM
BY EMILIA NARNI J. DAVID, Reporter


A DEPARTMENT circular aimed at limiting the number of power outages in Mindanao has been issued by the Energy department.


Department Circular 2012-03-0004, effective immediately, mandates state entities such as the National Power Corp. (Napocor), Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM), National Electrification Administration and system operator National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP), along with private sector industry players, to maximize the use of all available electricity.


The NGCP, in particular, should "use any and all available capacities to maintain load generation balance including the minimum reserve requirements that may be determined in consideration of the available supply."


It is allowed to determine how much electricity to dispatch as baseload power without compromising the needed reserves in the region.


"The lowering of reserves is basically in the discretion of the NGCP because they are the ones that need to balance the grid. The circular is directing them to use any available power to manage the grid," said Mylene C. Capongcol, director of the Energy department's Electric Power Industry Management Bureau.


The NGCP has previously said that it has been running the Mindanao grid below the 250-megawatt (MW) reserve requirement.


The circular also directs Napocor and PSALM to "fully utilize all available capacities for all power plants in the Mindanao region for energy purposes, taking into consideration the fluctuating demand requirements of large industrial users in the Mindanao region."


The immediate implementation of selective dredging of the Agus and Pulangui rivers to increase the available capacity of the Agus-Pulangui hydroelectric power plant was also ordered.


Mindanao has been experiencing rotating brownouts for the past few months due to lack of capacity.


The Energy department said the circular would allow around 300-MW of additional power to be used.


"One of the ways we can get immediate power is through the strict adherence to the load to maintain matrix. What that means is that power distributors must shave off a certain level of their pro-rated demand so there is no one outdoes the other when it comes to load sharing and no one has more power than another," Energy Undersecretary Josefina Patricia M. Asirit said.


The dispatch procedure will also be changed so that electricity immediately available from power barges 117 and 118 will be used instead of waiting for available power from the Agus-Pulangui power plant to come online.


As of Friday, Mindanao had a power shortage of 151 MW and demand of 1,253 MW.