NEDA creates team to look into Mindanao power

MANILA, Philippines—The Regional Development Committee (RDCom) of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) board has created a Special Committee for Mindanao Power, to address the worsening power supply situation in Mindanao.

In a statement, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary and RDCom chairman Cayetano W. Paderanga Jr. said that the special committee is tasked to formulate recommendations to address energy issues, particularly the limited generating capacity and dependence of Mindanao on hydropower sources, particularly the 700-megawatt Agus Pulangi hydropower complex.

“The RDCom discussed Mindanao’s power supply and demand outlook to come up with concrete recommendations to avert a power shortage in the near future,” Paderanga said, adding that the bleak outlook prompted the creation of the special committee.

According to NEDA, Mindanao’s power demand is expected to grow at an annual rate of 4.56 percent from 2011 to 2030. Demand is projected to exceed existing generation capacity by 2014 unless additional power generation capacity is installed.

It was also pointed out that Mindanao’s heavy dependence on hydro-power sources, which constitute half of the generation mix in the region, makes its power supply vulnerable to drought and decreasing water levels in watersheds.

Meanwhile, on the sidelines of the Philippine economic briefing Tuesday, Energy Secretary Jose Rene D. Almendras noted that the creation of this committee was necessary for the formulation of long-term solutions—and not just band-aid measures—to the power supply woes in Mindanao.

According to Almendras, the rotating brownouts lasting one or two hours daily in Mindanao were due primarily to the shortage of supply and the electric cooperatives’ decision not to purchase available – albeit more expensive – electricity from fuel-fired power facilities.

Almendras said this is why the Department of Energy (DoE) will soon issue an order mandating electric cooperatives to contract and purchase the necessary capacities within their respective areas to ensure adequate and steady electricity supply.

The energy chief had also warned electric cooperatives in Mindanao that the DoE will be ready to cut off the power supply of those that will not strictly follow the provisions of their respective supply contracts, as a way to instill much needed discipline in the energy market in the island.

By lack of discipline, Almendras said he was referring to the overdrawing of power from the 700-MW Agus-Pulangi hydropower complex by some electric cooperatives. He said their refusal to contract more capacities from the available diesel-fueled plants is partly to blame for the rotating brownouts on the island.