More blackouts feared Power

Failure Hits Country’s Seat Of Power 
Manila Bulletin

by Genalyn D. Kabiling, Camcer Ordoñez Imam and Ellson A. Quismorio 
March 5, 2014

The power problem that has been gripping Mindanao failed to spare the country’s seat of power.
Yesterday, two power interruptions hit a Malacañang event attended by President Benigno S. Aquino III in succession. Presidential Communications Operations Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. explained that the power interruptions were caused by a “minor technical problem” in the Palace power lines, adding the matter has already been addressed. 
Coloma denied that the incident was connected with the power supply problems in Mindanao. “There is nothing to worry. 
It also has no relation with the bigger problems in the energy sector,” Coloma said in Filipino. 
While Palace officials downplayed the Malacañang outage, they may be in for a bigger problem in Mindanao. 
Off The Grid 
STEAG State Power, Inc. (SPI), a coal-fired power plant in Villanueva, Misamis Oriental, and the biggest power plant in Mindanao, remains off the grid after failing to upload a total of 210 megawatts since the widespread blackout last February 27. 
 Jerome Soldevilla, communications officer of SPI, said Units 1 and 2 of STEAG State Power, Inc. remain offline after sustaining damage to its turbine generating sets following the reported Mindanao grid systems disturbance last February 27. 
Each unit has a net generating capacity of 105 MW. 
 With this development, more blackouts are feared in the region. Soldevilla said SPI has yet to complete the ongoing comprehensive inspection and assessment of the turbine generating sets and expects to come up with a more definite schedule and time table for the actual repair and restoration works in the next few days. 
 SPI power plant manager Dr. Carsten Evers said the repair of the units may last for several weeks or more. 
Based on the initial results of the ongoing inspection and comprehensive technical evaluation of the turbine units, SPI will need substantial amount of time to restore the units back on line. 
Dr. Evers said, “We understand and recognize the precarious and very volatile power supply condition of Mindanao and we would like to assure all our stakeholders especially the power consumers that SPI is working round-the-clock to restore the units back on line.” 
SPI has vowed to provide periodic updates on the progress and development of the restoration work and is working closely with the Department of Energy (DOE), the National Power Corporation (NPC), and other members of the energy sector of Mindanao in addressing the issue.
Bite The Bullet 
Residents of power-strapped Mindanao may have no choice but to bite the bullet for now and pay higher electricity rates, or else have no electricity at all. Zamboanga City Rep. Celso Lobregat stressed this in a news forum yesterday at the House of Representatives. 
He said the region currently suffers through rotational brownouts of six to nine hours daily. “Our problem in Mindanao, especially in Zamboanga, for the past few days is the six to nine hour brown outs. And the reason is the shortage in supply,” Lobregat said. 
According to him, there simply isn’t enough power plants to meet the region’s demands, and the existing plants there are either not running or are performing under-capacity. 
 “It was clear [during the Energy Summit] that there is really a shortage in supply right now. For the shortage to be addressed in the short-term, the only answer is modular generator sets. But of course that would mean higher cost of electricity,” Lobregat said. 
 The use of modular generator sets, to be procured by the electric cooperatives in Mindanao, could result to a hike of P2 per kilowatt hour in electricity costs, according to the Zamboanga lawmaker.
 “For the long term, new power plants must come in. There are indicative projects that are already in the pipeline and there are projects still coming in. The only time that supply will outpace demand is by February or March, 2015.” 
 Lobregat said that the energy projects committed to the Mindanao grid include a 300-megawatt (MW) Therma South Inc. coal-fired plant in Davao del Sur, as well as another 200-MW coal-fired plant this time in Saranggani province. 
The Therma South plant is expected to be online by 2015. 
Technical Problem 
In Malacañang, officials said the first power interruption occurred prior to the start of the oath-taking of 49 newly promoted military officers in the Palace. Electricity was restored a few minutes in time for the ceremony. 
The second outage struck when the President was leading a photo session with the new officers and their families. 
Lights from the large chandeliers at the Rizal Hall went out, except for the wall lamps surrounding the room. 
Leading the list of new military officers who took their oath before President Aquino is Army chief Major Gen. Hernando Iriberri. Among the oath-takers are Presidential Security group commander Commodore Raul Ubando, Armed Forces spokesman Major. Gen. Domingo Tutaan, ISAFP chief Major Gen. Eduardo Año, North Luzon Command commander Lt. Gen. Gregorio Catapang Jr., Eastern Mindanao Command chief Lt. Gen. Ricardo Rainier Cruz, and Philippine Military Academy Superintendent Major Gen. Oscar Lopez. 
Despite trying to address a similar power supply problem in Mindanao, President Aquino did not lose his cool. Instead, the Chief Executive smiled and cheered with the Palace guests when the lights were restired at the main ceremonial hall. With lights back on, the photo session with the President resumed. source