MINDANAO is set to experience rotating brownouts anew starting August, an official said in an interview last July 17 at Marco Polo Hotel, Davao City.

Romeo Montenegro, Mindanao Development Authority Director for Investment Promotions and Public Affairs, said rotating brownout in Mindanao is due to the scheduled maintenance of major power plants supplying power to the Mindanao grid.

This includes the preventive maintenance shutdown of Steag State Power Inc., causing a 100-megawatt (MW) cut off.

According to ABS-CBN news report, Department of Energy Sec. Jericho Petilla said that aside from Steag, the Agus and Pulangi hydropower units will also undergo maintenance shutdown beginning July until December this year.

Montenegro said that this would largely affect the areas with low capacity.

Petilla, meanwhile, said in the report that even if these power plants will be operating by summer of 2014 and summer of 2015, rotating blackouts may still occur in the region because of power supply shortage.

But Montenegro said that they are expecting that the 102 MW Iligan Diesel Powerplant will have its full operation by September and the modular generator sets contracted by electric cooperative will become operational by the next two month. Each generator set is expected to contribute 15 MW.