Here We Go Again, Mindanao Suffers Rotating Power Outages

[Mr Lee]

A sign of things to come, so while my wife and I visit Mindanao biyearly, I am glad we decided to buy in Cebu and not in Mindanao. I wonder if they are also having these outages all over Mindanao? Anyone know if Cagayan de Oro, Davao and other areas are affected? With the business climate already dampened by renewed insurgency-related violence, Mindanao’s on-and-off economic boom suffered another dampener this week as rotating brownouts worsened due to a severe drop in the island’s electricity supply. According to the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines, which runs the power distribution network in the entire country, electricity supply in Mindanao was short by 81 megawatts of electricity as of Friday, forcing several areas in southern Philippines to go dark intermittently as the National Government struggled to control a renewed flare-up of violence in Basilan province, where 19 soldiers from the elite Army Scout Rangers were killed last Wednesday in a clash with rebels from the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front. The NGCP said it put Mindanao “on red alert” effective 11 a.m. last Wednesday “due to zero contingency reserve brought about by planned outage and reduced capability of power plants.” According to the NGCP, it lost 105 megawatts of electricity supply because of the shutdown of one of the two generating plants of Steag State Power Inc. in Villanueva, Misamis Oriental for scheduled maintenance repairs. The state-owned National Power Corp. has also “derated” or reduced the generating capacity of its ageing hydro-electric and diesel power plants in various parts of Mindanao to prevent further degradation of its facilities, it added. The NGCP said the NPC has downgraded the capacity of its Agus 1 hydroelectric power plant to 35 MW from its original 80 MW, Agus 2 to 80 MW from 180 MW, Agus 4 to 100 MW from 158 MW, Agus 5 to 30 MW from 55 MW, Agus 6 to 130 MW from 200 MW, Agus 7 to 25 MW from 54 MW, Pulangi 4 to 200 MW from 255 MW, and the Zamboanga City-based Western Mindanao Power Corp. diesel plants to 90 MW from 100 MW. The Department of Energy had previously warned of a severe electricity supply situation in Mindanao starting next year when the summer season starts anew and drains water reserves in Mindanao’s hydro-electric power plant facilities. Link

[Genius]

My visit to the north of Mindanao, butuan and agusan really was like something out what I imagine communist china must of been like in the 70s. It sort of works but it doesn't quite. You can see the place progressing in leaps over a few decades if they Got their act together. But will they? They certainly got the manpower and ability.

[Okieboy]

we had one power outage last year for about 4 hours during a lightning storm, Davao light has a very good power grid and are building a new coal fired power plant in Davao no problem here

[Call me bubba]

seems that the situation is not getting any better, here are 4 different stories that just tells how it is .THE faucets have run dry on some islands in Mindanao after the eight-hour daily blackouts knocked out their deep-well pumps, Agham Rep. Angelo Palmones said Tuesday.“The residents on the island provinces and municipalities like Zamboanga, Basilan and Tawi-Tawi have to resort to manual wells,” Palmones said.“The residents are also boiling the water for drinking to avoid contracting diseases because there is not enough power to run the treatment plant.http://www.manilasta...mindanao-areas/LAWMAKERS on Monday warned Mindanao consumers and businesses to brace for higher power rates despite the crippling outages that are expected to last until 2013.House Deputy Minority Leader and Zambales Rep. Milagros Magsaysay said the warning came from President Benigno Aquino III himself, who said consumers in the region “should share the burden” of power costs.The statement, she said, meant that Mr. Aquino would not subsidize the cost of power to Mindanao consumers amid accusations that the power shortage was artificial.http://www.manilasta...er-electricity/ Agham Rep. Angelo Palmones told reporters that NGP and NGCP officials should have anticipated the power shortage.. “But it appears they have not been doing their respective duties. They should have had prepared contingencies for this. Sadly they have none,” Palmones said. Power utilities in many parts of Mindanao are implementing sectional rationing of electricity owing to the limited supply from NPC. “This has badly affected the economy of so many..supposedly booming areas in Mindanao, particularly those in the countryside,” Palmones said. He also said that appliances become defective owing to the power outages. Residents here and surrounding towns in North Cotabato have been complaining of the lack of information about the operation of a state-run geothermal power plant at Mt. Apo, which is located in nearby Barangay Ilomavis in Kidapawan City. The service areas in Kidapawan City and North Cotabato of the Cotabato Electric Cooperative (Cotelco) suffer eight hours of periodic brownouts daily. “What is so surprising is that the province is host to two geothermal power plants that supply about 100 megawatts of power to the Mindanao grid,” said Palmones, who hails from this city. Lualhati Antonino, chair of the Mindanao Development Authority, said her office is looking into the power crisis. State-run hydro-electric plants in Lanao del Sur, a province of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, and Bukidnon, in Administrative Region 10, supply about three-fourths of Mindanao’s total power requirement. ARMM regional government officials said water at Lake Lanao, whose downstream flow towards Iligan City and Lanao del Norte propels several hydro-electric plants in Lanao del Sur, will be enough to supply needs even during summer.

http://www.philstar....rticleId=790181

The four barges have a combined capacity of 128 megawatts, but the projected electricity deficit in Mindanao has reached 179 MW, .The deficit could grow, s as a major source of power in Mindanao, the Pulangi hydropower facility, would be shut down starting April 9 for maintenance and repairs.if no additional power is contracted while Pulangi undergoes maintenance, brownouts in Mindanao could last up to four hours a day. Brownouts currently last an hour to two hours a day.

edited

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/168181/special-powers%E2%80%99-target-deals-with-power-firms

Edited March 27, 2012 by Call me Bubba

[Mike S]

I am so glad the power outages here in Cebu City have stopped ... well for the past year anyway .... when I first got here we had rotating outages just about every other day with the occasional non-scheduled ones .... but at least Veco did have the times and dates listed on their website and were pretty accurate with in a couple of hours ..... used to check it first thing in the morning to see when we were gonna be cut off ..... life is so much easier now ..... :angry: