DoE moves to avert rotating outages in Mindanao

Electric cooperatives in Mindanao may soon tap as much as 300 megawatts in additional supply to avert up to eight hours of rotating brownouts on the island, the Department of Energy (DoE) announced.

A DoE circular, to be issued next week, will in effect free up capacity that may be channeled to critical areas.

In a briefing Wednesday, Energy Undersecretary Josefina Patricia M. Asirit said Steag State Power Inc. and the Aboitiz-led Thermal Marine Inc. would provide a total of 146 MW in readily available power that cooperatives could contract.

Also, another 150 MW may be freed up once the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) gets the permission to reduce the capacity allotted for so-called reserve requirements. At present, 250 MW are allocated for that purpose, Asirit said.

“The House energy committee will come up with a resolution to allow the reduction of the capacity allocated for reserve requirements, for as long as the act will not compromise the integrity of the grid structures,” she said.

Mindanao is expected to suffer from a power shortfall of around 270 MW.

The power situation on the island may be tight, but it is “manageable,” with the proper handling of demand and rationalization of available supply, particularly those from hydropower complexes, Asirit stressed.

She pointed out that some cooperatives in Mindanao aggravated the supply crunch by failing to observe contracts and protocols.

The DoE circular will thus direct the cooperatives to “comply with their obligations under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 and undertake the necessary measures to address the power situation…”

Aside from the 300 MW that can be made available to cooperatives, another 120 MW may come from a private power company, which has offered to move two power barges to Mindanao, Asirit said.

The state-run Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. will see to the equitable allocation of excess capacities to customers.