RESIDENTS in Cagayan de Oro City are now experiencing more than eight hours of daily brownout in shift.
In its new advisory on Monday, Cagayan de Oro Electric Power and Light Co. (Cepalco) has resorted to load shedding in three shifts to contain the power supply shortage that Mindanao has been experiencing since last month.
Following the advisory from the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), Cepalco is compelled to enforce the power load shedding effective on Tuesday until today, April 15, although it started its load shedding on April 10.
Cepalco, in its advisory, also cautions its customers that the actual “switch off and switch on time” may vary from the announced schedule depending on the actual load curtailment levels set by NGCP on Cepalco, which changes every hour. It also assures that when load levels are within its allocation there will be no interruption at all.
Marilyn Chavez, senior manager for customer and community relations of Cepalco, told Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro by phone on Monday evening that Cepalco has strictly employed the load shedding since its power supply is short of 30 megawatts.
Normally, Chavez said, Cepalco has a requirement of 150 MW to supply power to its customers without load shedding. However, in the past days, Cepalco is getting between 65MW to 75MW from the National Power Corporation (NPC) and it gets an additional 42MW from Minergy, Cepalco’s Independent Power Producer (IPP) and with a small allocation from its hydro and solar power sources.
“Yet, we are still short of 30MW which has forced us to employ the load shedding since the Interruptible Load Program (ILP) isn’t doing well as some generator sets have also bogged down,” Chavez said.
It has not been clear yet if the dry spell has exacerbated the power supply shortage since NPC hasn’t fully disclosed what is causing this shortage, although, Pulangui 4 is reportedly on low water level due to the dry spell.
But in its website, NPC’s dam status as of April 14 showed that Agus 4 in Lanao del Norte, Lake Lanao in Lanao del Sur and Pulangui 4 in Maramag town in Bukidnon are all in “normal plant operation.”
Therma South Inc.
Cepalco has signed up for 20MW from Therma South Inc. (TSI). However, the Mindanao-wide blackout that occurred on April 5, 2015 disrupted the commissioning schedule of Unit 2 of TSI’s coal-fired power plant in Davao City.
In a statement sent to Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro, initial findings showed the disruption unfortunately caused damage to the auxiliary components to the boiler of Unit 2. Affected areas and components include the air-pre-heater and the electrostatic precipitator, which is part of the power plant’s pollution control system.
TSI is currently conducting a more detailed assessment of the extent of the repairs needed and a full review to determine all contributing factors that led to the plant incident to ensure appropriate measures are taken.
The damage will delay the commercial operations of Unit 2 approximately by 10 months. Unit 1 and Unit 2 of the power plant have yet to be turned over to the company.
TSI president and COO, Benjie Cariaso Jr., assured the public that the status of Unit 2 will not affect the commissioning of Unit 1, which remains on schedule and should reach commercial operation by the end of June 2015.
TSI is working with its contractors and suppliers to make the necessary repairs to resume the commissioning of Unit 2. The repairs will be made as expeditiously as possible to shorten the time before both units operate commercially providing power to Mindanao.
“We will update all stakeholders of further developments. We remain committed to do everything we can to support Mindanao with its power needs,” Cariaso added.
6 to 7 hours in Zamboanga
In Zamboanga City, power outages in the city have stretched to six to seven hours daily prompting the local electric cooperative to negotiate with an IPP for the purchase of additional load.
The daily rotational blackouts increased from four hours to at least six hours starting Tuesday, which was attributed to the reported decline of power generation from the Mindanao grid.
Omar Sahi, Zamboanga City Electric Cooperative (Zamcelco) president, said they are negotiating with the Therma Marine Inc. (TMI) for the purchase of additional 18 megawatts.
Sahi said the daily outages will be reduced by at least three hours if they can get additional power from TMI.
He said TMI is presently providing Zamcelco 18 MW.
He said the longer blackouts came after the NPC cut its supply to Zamcelco to 28-30 MW.
Sahi said Zamcelco received 38-42 MW daily from NPC last week.
“The power allocation is not fixed. It changes every hour,” he added.
He explained the duration of blackouts differs from one feeder to another – six hours for small feeders and seven for big feeders.
He said Zamcelco has 24 electric feeders with around 130,000 member-consumers. The cooperative’s peak-load demand ranges from 80 to 85 MW.
Aside from TMI and NPC, he said Zamcelco also is getting 18 MW from Mapalad Power Corp., another diesel-fired IPP.
Residents, business clamor
Susan Jabay, a copier operator, clamored for the inconvenience and discomfort the rotational brownout brings.“Makalagot, igang, ang atong negosyo way klaro. Init kay way electric fan, mangadaut atong pagkaon. Dili kita makalihok. Sa atong panahon kuryente kinahanglan kaayo. Dako kaayo ug kawad-an kung wala kita’y kuryente.”
Vashtie Cabana, a student, said the brownout is disturbing and irritating. "Init kaayo, daghan lamok especially matag gabie nga brownout. Samok kaayo kay dili ta makatuon kay wala’y suga samot na kung mga papers kinahanglan kaayo ug computer."
“Samok, disturbing, ug grabe ka init. Dili ta makalihok ug tarong dayun dili pa gyud ta ka Facebook kay atong mga cellphone lowbat pirmi,” Sheila Maricar Apelanio quipped.
"Dili maayo ang browout kay hassle kaayo. Wala kaayo mi halin, makaguba sa kita sa mga paninda kay wala na kaayo mopalit kay dili nila ma-testingan ang mga DVDs na gapaliton sa mga customers. Kung matungnan ang brownout sa alas 5 sa hapon paingon sa alas 8 sa gabie manira ug mamauli na lang ug sayo kay if mag stay wala ma’y kitaon,” said Aplayan Sulayman, a DVD vendor at Cogon.
For Jo Lover Tadlas, a security guard at Western Union in Bulua, it has been difficulty lately since transactions have been hampered. “Bisan naa ta’y generator, hassle kaayo kay mogasto pa ug gasolina.” (With reports from Mindanews/Liceo interns)