The power utility serving Cagayan de Oro and the Misamis Oriental towns of Tagoloan, Villanueva and Jasaan has appealed for the patience of its consumers following the resumption of rotating brownouts late last month.
Scenes from the recent ENERCON Symposium hosted by JCI Bai Lawanen with the Department of Energy and Mindanao Development Authority (photo by Mike Baños, NPN)
Sources from the Cagayan Electric Power and Light Company (CEPALCO) said the utility is contracting short term power supply agreements with various generation companies (gencos) which are now in the final stages of approval with the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).
“We have 10MW diesel power from Minergy available and ready to operate since August, but we still don’t have the provisional approval from the ERC to operate. We hope ERC can give us the green light by this week,” the source who preferred to remain anonymous said. “Hopefully, with the additional supply, we will no longer have to resort to manual load shedding even with the El Niño.”
Scenes from the recent ENERCON Symposium hosted by JCI Bai Lawanen with the Department of Energy and Mindanao Development Authority (photo by Mike Baños, NPN)
Sources from the ERC said the application for provisional authority has already been evaluated by staff and will soon be taken up at the commission level when it meets this week.
CEPALCO currently has a peak demand of 170MW. Besides its allocation from the Power Sector Assets & Liabilities Management Corporation (or PSALM, formerly the National Power Corp.), it can generate an additional 55MW from embedded independent power producers within its franchise area on a mix of diesel, hydro and solar power. This was further boosted with the operation of the first phase of the Kirahon Two Energy Corporation (KTEC) solar power plant in Villanueva, Misamis Oriental last October.
“The 10MW Kirahon Solar PSA has already been approved by the ERC and CEPALCO customers have been benefitting already from the output of this facility since October 26,” said Engr. Jorey T. Alfaro, Head and Key Account Officer of CEPALCO’s Customer Service Department during a recent ENERCON Symposium.
Cepalco’s 1MW solar PV power plant in Bgy. Indahag, Cagayan de Oro City
On top of this, it can further call on an additional 21.3MW from its industrial partners through its Interruptible Load Program (ILP).
However, the utility is taking no chances and has applied for provisional authority with the ERC for a power supply contract from a 10MW modular genset it intends to construct at the compound of affiliate Minergy Energy Systems at Bgy. Tablon.
Jaime Rafael U. Paguio, Senior Vice President, appealed to its partners in industry associations and customers to write and petition ERC to speed up the Provisional Approval for the 10MW modular diesel plant.
Original Minergy 3-6.3 MW Diesel Power Plant
“The 10MW can drastically reduce the shortage during peak hours,” Paguio noted.
However, even residential consumers can take comfort that even during the expected worst El Niño episode in years, Mindanao is expected to dodge the rotating brownouts which plagued it during the height of the last episode in 2010.
During the Energy Conservation & Awareness Program (ENERCON)- Symposium held last November 12 at a local hotel, personnel of the Dept. of Energy’s (DOE) Electric Power Industry Management Bureau (EPIMB) presented projections showed that even with the presence of the El Niño, the Mindanao Grid will have minimal brownouts with the expected operation of new power plants serving the grid.
According to the bureau’s simulation results considering El Niño, gross power reserves vs. the expected demand would still be below the required regulating level for the entire last quarter of 2015 to the first quarter of 2016.
The deficit is expected to peak at 277MW for Nov. 28-Dec.4, 2105 and 235MW on Dec. 5-11, 2015 before falling to a maximum of 167MW (Feb. 6-12) and 157MW (Feb. 13-19) in the first quarter of 2016.
Earlier simulations conducted by CEPALCO showed that with a peak demand of 170MW, load shedding resulting in sectional brownouts would have to be resorted to by the utility when the power deficit in the Mindanao Grid exceeds 240MW.
However, the DOE EPIMB projects that the Mindanao Grid’s power reserves for the second quarter of 2016 would be sufficient to cover expected demand due to the operation of additional committed power plants with the surplus expected to grow to 140MW by April 2-8 and further to 606MW by June 25-July 3.
Minergy Expansion 3-6.3 MW Diesel Power Plant
Nevertheless, the EPIMB cautions there are risk factors that could result to an even worse scenario, such as delays in the commercial operation of committed power projects; Right of Way (ROW) issues for associated transmission projects of the committed power projects; lower than forecasted hydropower capability arising from the El Niño-induced weather; peace and order, e.g. bombing of critical lines, election-related situations, etc. and higher occurrence of forced outages such as the ones now being experienced by the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGPC) in Districts 2 and 10 due to ROW violations of some landowners who have planted trees and houses along active and planned transmission lines and would not allow NGCP line personnel to clear the overgrown trees causing the outages.
The EPIMB has recommended some supply side measures to mitigate the impact of the El Niño on the grid including ensuring power plants will have minimal forced outages; managing maintenance Schedules (NGCP’s Grid Operating and Maintenance Program); Hydro Management of the Agus-Pulangi Hydroelectric Power Plants, and deployment of modular gensets especially for cooperatives who are far from power sources.
It has also recommended the implementation of Demand-Side Management such as the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Campaign presented by CEPALCO during the symposium and the activation of the Interruptible Load Program (ILP) being utilized by some distribution utilities like DLPI, CEPALCO and MORESCO-1.
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