MikeLigalig.com

By Judy G. Quiros

Except for the cities of Davao and Cagayan de Oro, most areas in Mindanao have been experiencing a two-hour power curtailment beginning October 6 until November 10, according to Milfrance “Bambi” Capulong, National Grid Corporation in the Philippines (NGCP) spokesperson for Mindanao.

Capulong said the power shortage is triggered by the preventive maintenance shutdown of the 210 MW coal-fired power plant in Misamis Oriental that started October 6 and projected to last until November 10 as earlier announced by the coal plant’s operator, STEAG State Power, Inc.

“Except for Davao City and Cagayan de Oro City, all the rest are experiencing brownouts of about two hours as STEAG started the shutdown of its coal-fired power plant,” she said.

Mindanao’s power demand is at 1,100 MW. However, with STEAG’s preventive maintenance shutdown, the power generating capacity in the entire island was reduced to 974MW which caused the ongoing power shortage, Capulong said.

Earlier, National Power Corporation (NAPOCOR) has announced the coming of its two barges at 100MW capacity in General Santos City and Cagayan de Oro purposely to augment power supply in Mindanao.

Though the mooring site in General Santos is already prepared for the barge, NGCP has yet to get information regarding the mooring site in CDO, she said.

Capulong however said, the power capacity of the two power barges cannot suffice the lost power because of the shutdown of the STEAG’s Misamis Oriental coal fired power plant.

The newly created Mindanao Power Monitoring Committee (MPMC) has earlier urged the public to brace for possible outages in some Mindanao areas with the first-ever shutdown of the 210MW coal-fired power plant in Misamis Oriental.

STEAG’s 210MW coal-fired power plant is said to have two electric generation units, one with 105MW capacity to start on October 6 to November 4, and the other 105MW unit to go offline on October 29 until November 10.

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