Business Mirror
28 May 2014 Written by Butch D. Enerio / Correspondent
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—There will be fewer power interruptions in this city following improved power allocation by the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP).
This is expected to ease the rotating brownouts experienced by this city’s residents the past few weeks.
Marilyn A. Chavez, senior manager for customer and community relations of the Cagayan Electric Power and Light Co. (Cepalco), said power allocation from the NGCP has gotten better.
“We are happy to announce we had no rotating brownouts these past three days because our allocation from NGCP has improved,” Chavez said.
Chavez said Cepalco’s hourly allocation as of last Friday had increased to 75 megawatts (MW) compared to only 54 MW a week ago, representing an increase of 21 MW or 39 percent.
She said the big improvement resulted fewer brownouts even if Cepalco exceeded its allocation by 15 MW.
Chavez said although there was no official word from NGCP, rains during the past few days improved the capacity of the Agus plants.
Cepalco said they expect the power-supply situation to improve further this week once the first unit of STEAG State Power Inc., the 105-MW plant, gets back online.
Steag reported that its Unit 1 will be operational by June 1 and the recommissioning will be done this coming Sunday.
“Barring any complications to our turbines, we hope to be online before June 1,” said Ma. Teresa R. Alegrio, Steag community relations manager.
Steag said the power plant’s turbines suffered extensive damage during an accident on February 27 which sent it offline for protracted repairs.
Steag’s Unit 2 went back online earlier this month, partly relieving the critical power-supply situation in Mindanao.
Cepalco is hopeful that the trend will continue and with the good news coming from STEAG any time next week, the additional 105 MW will be on-stream.
“That’s really welcome news because that could also mean our allocation would also increase,” Chavez said.
However, she added Cepalco would still continue posting its rotating-brownout schedules since NGCP could shut it off anytime once the Mindanao grid goes critical. source
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