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PNOC shuts down power plant in northern Negros
MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine National Oil Co.-Energy Development Corp. (PNOC-EDC) on Thursday said it had temporarily shut down its Northern Negros Power Plant due to insufficient steam production. "The production wells’ latest steam output is no longer sufficient to generate the manufacturer’s specified minimum operating load for the power plant," PNOC-EDC President and Chief Executive Officer Paul A. Aquino told the Philippine Stock Exchange in a disclosure. Mr. Aquino said calcite minerals found in the geothermal field were clogging up the wells, which hampers steam production. This, he added, is beyond the company’s control. In a phone interview, Investor Relations Manager and Company Information officer Erudito S. Recio said that the steam output was now limited to 4.5 megawatts from the 20 megawatts originally. "The current level of power of 4.5 megawatts will cause negative impact on equipment so we have to stop operations," he said. Mr. Aquino added that "EDC had carried out all reasonable and appropriate scientific and engineering efforts in an attempt to remedy or alleviate the problems encountered." "Based on the advice of the equipment supplier, it is no longer possible to operate the plant because continued operation would cause damage to the steam turbine generator," he added. Based on the disclosure, the closure was expected to last nine months and would only result in a maximum sustainable capability of 15-18 megawatts. "In order to make the project viable for medium to long term, it will be necessary to enter the Mt. Kanlaon buffer zone in order to recover the capacity of the original design steam supply of 49 megawatts," Mr. Aquino said. PNOC-EDC officials earlier said they were prepared to defend the firm’s expansion inside Mt. Kanlaon park in Negros. In a statement, Gino de la Cruz, resident manager of Northern Negros Geothermal Power Field, said the PNOC-EDC respects the right of groups that want to seek a temporary restraining order on their expansion project. Environmental groups and the Catholic Church earlier said they would ask a court to stop the company from tapping Mt. Kanlaon for geothermal power. The Green Alert-Negros and Save Mt. Kanlaon Movement, part of the Church-led opposition to the exploration project, have started consulting their lawyers to prepare the suit. Philip Bertomo, an engineer at the Iloilo Electric Cooperative (ILECO I), which supplies the power of Northern Negros, said the closure of the Northern Negros Power Plant would affect power availability in Southern and Central Iloilo, and Panay in Negros, composed of 90,000 households. "Right now, we already have power outages of five to eight hours due to power shortage, so the shutdown of the plant will increase that," he said in a phone interview. He added that cooperative managers were discussing ways to address the problem. ILECO I obtains its power from National Power Corp., Panay Power and PNOC-EDC and has a demand of 18 megawatts during daytime and 29 megawatts at night.- BusinessWorld
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