63 percent of Mindanao power comes from the North

ABOUT 63.3 percent of the total dependable power source in the Mindanao grid was provided by the power plants in Northern Mindanao region during the second quarter of 2012.

Records from the National Power Corporation (NPC) show that power plants supplied 813.01 megawatts (MW) to Mindanao's total dependable capacity of 1,284.59MW.

Cecilio Y. Clarete of National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) in Northern Mindanao said the 813.01MW dependable capacity was only about 85.21 percent of the total installed capacity of the region.

He said, however, that it was 8.5 percent higher from the 749.57MW dependable capacity in the same quarter of 2011 due to the improvement in capacities of the Pulangui 4 and Agus 7 hydro-power (HEP) plants.

The dependable capacity of Agus 7 went up by 26 percent from 30.33MW in 2011 to 38.33MW in 2012.

Likewise, Pulangui 4's dependable capacity improved from last year's 173.33MW to 233.33MW or an increase of 35 percent this year.

Agus 7 and Pulangui 4 HEPs were located in Barangay Fuentes in Iligan City and Barangay Kiuntod in Maramag, Bukidnon, respectively.

The same NPC records further show that the power generation mix of Northern Mindanao during the quarter was 74 percent hydro and 26 percent coal-fired.

Meanwhile, data gathered by Neda-Northern Mindanao from the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) reveal that energy sales during the second quarter of the year reached 582,475,224 kilowatt-hours, an increase of 2.17 percent over the energy sales in the same period last year.

Clarete said an increase of 27 percent in energy sold to Lanao del Norte was registered during the quarter due to the operations of the Maria Cristina Chemical Industries in Iligan City.

In contrast, energy sold to Misamis Oriental dipped by 6.2 percent due to the cessation of operation of the Mindanao Silicon Metal Corporation. (PR)