POWER curtailment in Cagayan de Oro City is back, as the Mindanao grid experienced a power deficiency of 130 megawatts as of July 20 forcing the Cagayan de Oro Electric Power and Light Co. (Cepalco) to resort to three-hour rotational power outages beginning 9 a.m. Monday.
Marilyn Chavez, senior manager for Customer and Community Relations of Cepalco, said the Power Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (Psalm), formerly the National Power Corp. (NPC), cut Cepalco’s power allocation to only about 27MW Monday morning.
Cepalco needs 150MW to power its franchise area.
“At about 9 a.m. yesterday (July 20), Psalm allocated only 27MW to Cepalco. Our utility can only back the shortage with 42MW from Minergy, our independent power producer (IPP). At about 5 p.m. on Monday, Psalm rose the allocation to 59MW, still it is deficient for the city’s 150MW need,” Chavez told Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro by phone Monday evening.
But notifying the public on the rotational brownout schedule came late as Cepalco sent its notice only on Monday afternoon while the schedule was in effect Monday morning.
SPI 105MW generator on preventive maintenance
Meanwhile, Steag State Power Inc. (SPI) has one of its generators with 105MW capacity on preventive maintenance since July 18.
“We expect to complete works on or before August 16,” Jerome Soldevilla, head of SPI communications office, said in a text message sent to Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro Monday evening.
Soldevilla, in his text message, said the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) Mindanao Regional Control Center (MRCC) has placed Mindanao grid on red alert, as power deficiency reached zero contingency reserve due low water inflow and discharged from the lakes, thus reducing the capability of Pulangui 4 hydroelectric and Agus power plants to supply the grid.
The NGCP advises its customers to strictly observe their adjusted allocation from Psalm. If shortage is experienced by distribution utilities, the latter should utilize their backup power supply from existing IPPs such as ThermaMarine, Mapalad Power Corp., or their embedded generators.