Blackouts in Mindanao to persist until 2015

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - Power outages in the southern Philippines may extend into next year, when two coal-fired power plants are expected to become operational, a senior official said today.

Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma, Jr. noted that Mindanao continues to experience about two to three hours rotating blackouts daily except for Maguindanao province where outages last for 10 hours or more.

Coloma said the operation of a 200-megawatt (MW) and a 300-MW coal-fired plant in 2015 would ease the power supply problem in southern Philippines.

By 2016, he said a 400-MW coal-fired plant will come online and beef up power supply in the region.

Coloma said the Philippine government is "actively pursuing" a 50-50 energy mix between traditional and renewable energy sources to address the power situation in Mindanao.

The Philippine government appealed to Mindanao residents for " understanding and patience." This after businessmen in the region said earlier that the power outages would cause them to incur " huge losses."