Mindanao needs power plant to avert crisis

BUTUAN CITY — Mindanao, the Philippines' second-largest island, may face a power crisis in three to five years if it fails to put up a 600 megawatt facility, an energy executive warned. “Increasing power needs contributed…by population growth" will lead to a “power crisis three to five years from now," Engr. Manuel Hamoy, Jr. of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) told GMANews.TV. NGCP is the company in charge of the country’s power grid, allotting energy produced by power plants to distributors such as Meralco. Building a 600 mW power plant now will not only address the current energy shortage but will also help meet electricity needs of the island five to seven years from now, added Hamoy, the NGCP district head for Northeastern Mindanao. A megawatt of electricity can provide annual energy needs of more than one thousand households, according to estimates. Currently, all parts of the Caraga region — Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur, Dinagat Islands, Surigao del Norte and Surigao del Sur — are suffering from three to six hour blackouts due to power shortage brought about by reduced water levels of hydropower plants in Mindanao. With Mindanao’s annual population growth rate of 2.3 percent, demand for power will still expand despite electricity generation currently at a standstill. The government must continue to look for alternative power sources, Hamoy said, citing a plan to establish hydro power plant at Lake Mainit. The proposed facility is expected to generate 50 to 60 megawatts of electricity, which is considered enough to meet the demand of Agusan del Norte and Surigao del Norte provinces. But at the same time, he said that environmental measures to make the Lake Mainit hydro power plant sustainable must be established. These measures include comprehensive dredging plans of the now heavily silted Lake Mainit . Lake Mainit is the fourth largest lake in the country whose area covers eight municipalities of the provinces of Agusan del Norte and Surigao del Norte. The plan to build a hydro power plant since 2001 has been shelved temporarily due some hitches. Energy shortage rises in Mindanao Mindanao still lacks 358 mW, an NGCP press statement dated February 24 said, adding that the increase is higher than the previous day’s 183 mW. The energy deficit is caused mainly by the reduced capabilities of hydro-electric plants due to low elevation at water reservoirs. As of posting time, available capabilities of Agus and Pulangi Plants have been reduced by 80 and 60 percent, respectively. Reduction in the capabilities of Agus and Pulangi Plants the previous day was at 70 percent. The Agus Plant is now running at 120 MW out of total rated capacity of 727 MW while Pulangi is running at 100 MW out of total rated capacity of 255 MW. Also contributing to the deficiency in Mindanao is the non-availability of Iligan Diesel Power Plant (35 MW) and the planned outage of Power Barge 117 (50 MW). The continuing generation deficiency will result in the curtailment of power load transmitted to Mindanao grid users. The NGCP district office for Northeastern Mindanao covers administration and supervision for power distribution in the entire Caraga Region, portion of Misamis Oriental which includes Gingoog City, Davao Oriental and Compostela Valley provinces. - RJAB Jr., GMANews.TV