MAJOR business establishments in Davao Region have started to operate their own generator sets to help ease the load on the Mindanao grid.
San Miguel Corporation, which runs a brewery plant in Darong, Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur, is running its own generator set every five hours daily during the peak hours "so that the other areas can utilize the power from National Power Corporation."
The beverage and food conglomerate's brewery in the region has been awarded with the Emilio Abello Hall of Fame for the past three years.
SM City Davao, the largest mall operator in the region, is also running on its own generator set every two hours daily in the afternoon, when the power demand in the region also peaks.
The city's premier hotel Marco Polo Davao also utilizes its generator set everyday to help ease on the power demand of Southern Mindanao amid the power crisis.
Davao City has been experiencing rotational brownouts since the start of February. The standby diesel-fired power plant of local distributor Davao Light and Power Company (DLPC) has also been utilized to augment the power shortage.
While the city only experiences as much as two- to three-hour power outages, other areas in Mindanao experience brownouts as long as 10 hours.
The latest update from National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) showed that the peak demand is expected to reach 1459 megawatts in the coming week with the gap reaching 688 megawatts.
The NGCP said Luzon will not experience any power interruptions this week. The Visayas, on the other hand, will continue to have thin reserves, causing off loading in some areas.