Mindanao power shortfall hits high

Sunstar Cagayan de Oro
Thursday, July 23, 2015

THE POWER deficiency in Mindanao has reached an alarming level, raising the possibility of longer and more frequent outages.
The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) reported a deficiency of 130 megawatts last Monday, prompting power
utilities and cooperatives to resort to load shedding in their franchise areas.
The Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) said the situation has compelled the distribution utilities and cooperatives to
resort to voluntary load curtailment, the activation of Interruptible Load Program (ILP) and tapping of embedded modular
generator sets.
MinDA said that rotation brownouts now range from one to four hours.
Cagayan de Oro Electric Power and Light Co. (Cepalco) is on a four-hour brownout schedule that will last until July 26.
MinDA said water levels in Lake Lanao and the Agus and Pulangui dams have breached critical points.
The Lake Lanao level of 699.24 meters, about two meters below normal.
The level in Agus is now at 358.31 meters, less than a meter below normal.
Pulangi has 280.40 meters, a full five meters below normal.
The low levels of the three water sources, which provide around half of Mindanao’s power supply, have significantly reduced
the capacity of the Agus-Pulangi hydropower plants.
Adding to the shortage is the preventive maintenance shutdown of a unit of the 210 megawatt coal fired plant in Misamis
Oriental.
In Zamboanga City, the daily brownouts last from five to nine hours. In Zamboanga del Sur the outages last for five hours, in
Sultan Kudarat, five hours, and in Surigao del Norte, 4.5 hours. GCA
Published in the Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro newspaper on July 23, 2015. source