Scarce electricity, repairs augur new power outages

Scarce supply of electricity, coupled with maintenance repairs of power plants, augurs a new round of outages in the Visayas and Mindanao but not in Luzon, Executive Secretary Leandro Mendoza said Wednesday. Mendoza, who read a report of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines during his weekly conference in Malacañang, said that the islands of Cebu and Panay would have a "negative reserve" of 2 megawatts (MW) because of preventive maintenance at the Panay diesel power plants PB 102 and PB 103. The islands are in the end tail of the transmission system in the Visayas area, the report said. The brownouts now plaguing Mindanao are caused by a 309-MW power supply deficiency, with a dependable capacity 984 MW against the peak demand of 1,293 MW Wednesday, the NGCP said. Maintenance works are currently on at the Agus 6 Unit 1 until June 7, the Western Mindanao Power Corp. Unit 5 until June 5, and the Southern Philippines Power Corp. Unit 4 until June 30. The generating units would have to be shut down for technicians to do the maintenance works. No brownouts are expected in Luzon, the NGCP said, as the Luzon grid now has a gross reserve of 348 MW. The peak demand for the grid was recorded at 7,238 MW Wednesday, while the generating capacity was at 7,646 MW. Outages were expected in Metro Manila this week as water levels in hydroelectric plants remain critical. Demand, however, was also expected to with the onset of rainy season, cooler weather and daily rains. From peaks of 38° Celsius last week, the temperature has dropped to 32° Wednesday, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said. —VS, GMANews.TV