Things are looking up for Cagayan de Oro City as it enjoys a respite from the spate of rotating brownouts which have plagued it for the past few weeks.
“We are happy to announce we had no rotating brownouts these past three days because our allocation from NGCP has improved,” said Marilyn A. Chavez, senior manager for customer and community relations of the Cagayan Electric Power & Light Co. (CEPALCO) during a May 23 meeting called by the Cagayan de Oro City Council Committee on Energy chaired by Kag. Teodulfo Lao, Jr. to discuss the power situation.
CEPALCO Sr. Mgr. Marilyn Chaves listens intently as KKI and SULOG member and columnist Ben Contreras asks a question during the May 23 meeting of the City Council Energy Committee at the SP Session Hall. (photo by Mike Banos, NPN)
Chavez said CEPALCO’s hourly allocation as of last Friday at 1PM had risen to 75 megawatts (MW) compared to only 54MW for the same time a week ago, or an increase of +21MW or 39 percent.
“That’s a big improvement and that’s why we did not implement the brownouts. Even if we exceeded our allocation by 15MW, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) did not ask us to shut off. Although we have no official word from NGCP but there’s reportedly been an improvement in the production of the Agus plants, probably because of the rains,” she added.
Chavez added that they expect the power supply situation to improve further this week once the first unit of STEAG State Power Inc.’s (SPI) 105MW plant gets back online.
STEAG State Power Inc. coal-fired power plant
“Unit 1 will be operational by June 1 and recommissioning will be done this Sunday for Boiler No. 1,” said Ma. Teresa R. Alegrio, community relations manager of SPI at the May 23 meeting called by the Cagayan de Oro City Council Committee on Energy chaired by Kag. Teodulfo Lao, Jr. to discuss the power situation. “Barring any complications to our turbines, we hope to be online before June 1.”
The power plant’s turbines suffered extensive damage during an accident last February 27 which sent it offline for protracted repairs. Unit 2 went back online earlier this month, partly relieving the critical power supply situation in Mindanao.
“We hope this will continue and with the good news coming from STEAG anytime next week the additional 105MW will be on-stream, that’s really welcome news because that could also mean our allocation would also increase,” Chavez noted.
However, she added that CEPALCO would still continue posting its rotating brownout schedules since NGCP could shut it off anytime once the Mindanao grid goes critical.
“Although we are not cutting off power as announced exactly but anytime NGCP calls us to shut off, those who are on the schedule will be the one interrupted. Normally during weekends our loads are manageable because most offices are closed and some industries also don’t operate during weekends,” she said.
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