STEAG shuts down 105-MW Mindanao coal power plant

Manila Standard Today
By Alena Mae S. Flores | Posted on Jul. 27, 2013 at 12:01am 

STEAG State Power Inc., a German energy company, shut down a 105-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Mindanao on Friday for a maintenance repair that will last until Aug. 14.

STEAG said in an advisory another 105-MW unit of the 210-megawatt Mindanao coal-fired power plant at the Phividec Industrial Park in Villanueva, Misamis Oriental would be on maintenance shutdown from Sept. 21 to Oct. 27.

The two STEAG power plants are considered the biggest in Mindanao on a per unit capacity, accounting for a fifth of the island’s electric generation mix.

The shutdown of the STEAG plants is seen to aggravate the power shortfall in Mindanao.

STEAG plant manager

Carsten Evers said in a statement the preventive maintenance works must be carried out to ensure efficiency and reliability of the two power generating units.

The company said the maintenance shutdown was coordinated closely with the state-owned National Power Corp. and grid operator National Grid Corp. of the Philippines.

“In determining the timing of the PMS, SPI always takes into consideration the power plant’s operations and maintenance guidelines, including the anticipated electricity demand-supply condition of Mindanao during the period,” it said.

STEAG said the maintenance aimed to minimize the impact of any possible power supply shortfall in the island.

Evers said since the power plant started operations in November 2006, STEAG sustained a remarkably high availability rate of 93 percent and an unplanned outage rate of less than one percent.

“SPI has consistently delivered on its promise to secure an efficient and reliable supply of power to Mindanao” he said.

STEAG has delivered more than 9.6 billion kilowattthours of electricity to the Mindanao grid as of end-June.

STEAG is a special purpose company established to build, operate and maintain Mindanao’s first and so far the only coal-fired power plant in the region. The company is principally owned by German company Steag GmbH.

The Mindanao Development Authority said it was coordinating with the Energy Department for measures to address the power shortage in Mindanao.

MinDA earlier said while the power supply situation was alleviated since May due to the increase in output from the hydro power plants, the maintenance shutdown of several plants would likely affect power supply in the coming months.  source