Mindanao blackouts to continue

Manila Standard Today 
By Alena Mae S. Flores | Mar. 06, 2014 at 12:01am 

STEAG State Power, owner of the 210 megawatt Mindanao coal plant in Misamis Oriental said it would take from eight to 12 weeks to repair and restore the power plant, which sustained damages by the grid disturbance last February, a company statement said. 
“The indicative duration for the restoration of the units is estimated from eight to 12 weeks based on initial findings of the on-going technical evaluation,” the statement said. 
Its two units went offline after sustaining damages in its turbine generators at the height of the Mindanao-wide grid systems disturbance last February 27. Each unit has a net generating capacity of 105 MW. 
STEAG plant manager Dr. Carsten Evers said the company has intensified its efforts to restore the units back on line because of the precarious and volatile power supply condition in Mindanao. 
“Our priority now is to restore the units back on line and ease up the critical power supply condition of Mindanao,” he said. 
“SPI employees are working around the clock to restore the power plant back to the grid. The STEAG coal power plant is Mindanao’s biggest in terms of unity capacity, accounting to nearly a fifth of the island’s total electricity supply. 
Mindanao is suffering from two to three hour brownouts due to the shutdown of the Mindanao coal plant.   source