Mindanao braces for longer blackouts

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – Mindanao is bracing for longer blackouts as three Agus-Pulangi power plants will shut down for a month beginning on April 17 to undergo repairs and rehabilitation.

The shutdown will take away 255 megawatts from the Mindanao grid as each plant has a capacity of 85MW.

The National Grid Corp. yesterday pegged the power deficit for the Mindanao grid at 234 MW as the system capacity was at 1057MW as against the peak demand of 1291MW. The scheduled shutdown of the Agus-Pulangi is also expected to bring the existing load curtailment of 320MW to as much as 550MW.

The National Power Corp. (NPC) had originally scheduled the shutdown for April 9.

The rehabilitation shall also include dredging of portions of the Pulangi river near the hydroelectric power plants.

Mindanao, which is largely dependent on hydroelectric power, sources its supply mainly from Pulangi River in Bukidnon and Lake Lanao in Marawi City.

The Agus-Pulangi complex has the capacity to generate over 700MW of electricity, which is over half the power supply of Mindanao during normal weather conditions.

Davao City, however, is not affected by the power crisis in the rest of Mindanao because it has its own standby bunker fuel-fed power plant as well as a mini-hydroelectric power plant.

But Davao Light and Power Co. has warned that Davao City might also have to resort to rotational blackouts if or when load curtailment increases next month.

The government is considering the use of power barges as one measure to ease the region’s power woes.