Two-hour brownouts possible

Posted on March 16, 2014 09:43:17 PM  

DAVAO CITY -- The city’s power distributor, Davao Light and Power Co., raised the alarm over the weekend that the one-hour rotating brownout in the city might increase to two hours if the power problem in the Mindanao grid continues to deteriorate. 
In a press statement, the Aboitiz Power Corp. subsidiary pointed out that the increase in the number of hours of the rotating brownout will depend "on the availability of power supply from the Mindanao grid." 
"Exact time when the outage will begin cannot be determined because it will depend on the level of curtailment imposed by the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) at any given time of the day and the variability of the load of Davao Light relative to time of the day," the statement said. 
On Sunday, the NGCP Web site showed that Mindanao had a deficit of only 169 megawatts (MW), with a capacity of 1,011 MW while its system peak was at 1,180 MW. 
Last week, the daily power shortage ranged from 200 to 300 MW. Arturo M. Milan, Davao Light executive vice-president, said that for as long as the deficit does not go beyond 250 megawatts, the firm’s franchise area will not have any power problem. 
This is because, Mr. Milan explained, the company has its 40-MW bunker-fueled standby plant, and is drawing 30 MW and 42.5 MW from sister companies Therma Marine, Inc. and Hedcor, Inc., respectively. 
The company, which consumes up to a fourth of the total Mindanao grid power production, serves the city, nearby Panabo City and three other towns in Davao del Norte. 
Mr. Milan earlier said that if the power problem in Mindanao worsens, his company will implement the interruptible load program. 
The program taps the generators of companies within its franchise areas and that the companies are compensated dependent on the cost of running the machines. 
Although this is similar to the Interim Mindanao Electric Market, which the Philippine Electricity Market Corp. is running, Mr. Milan said the generators tapped for the program are not connected to the Mindanao grid. 
The electricity market, on the other hand, taps those generating plants that are connected to the grid. The power problem of Mindanao started when some of the government-run hydroelectric plants conked out, which eventually affected the two coal-fired power plants of the Misamis Oriental-based Steag State Power, Inc. Bodo Goerlich, Steag State Power president, said the company is expecting that the first plant would be restored by May 4, while the other will resume operation a month later. 
The plants both have a production capacity of 105 MW each. 
"We empathize with those that are affected by the Mindanao power supply shortfall and rest assured that we are doing our best to restore the units back to the grid and help alleviate the island’s precarious power supply condition," he said. 
The work that the company is now doing will allow it to forego with the scheduled maintenance activities in August, Mr. Goerlich added. -- Carmelito Q. Francisco source