A Glimpse of …

I saw this post yesterday at Gold Star Daily’s website. One of my boss’ house help asked me if there was any truth about all these cause she’s scared when she saw it on paper.

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Dated March 4, 2010 by MIKE BAÑOS titled 79 MORE DAYS TO ‘DOOMSDAY’

UNLESS it rains soon, the National Power Corp. (Napocor) would be forced to shut down the Agus and Pulangi systems depriving Mindanao of 53 percent of its installed power capacity.

“We only have 81 centimeter to go before we reach the shutdown point,” said Maximo Adiong, head of Napocor’s Mindanao Regional Control Center (MRC) in Iligan, last Tuesday. “At one centimeter a day, we have 81 days of operation left [from Tuesday] before we have to close down our hydroelectric plants to keep them from being damaged by silt.”

MRC is the central hub which oversees Mindanao’s five area control centers in Cagayan de Oro, Butuan, Davao, General Santos and Iligan.

Adiong said the water flow in the Agus complex is down from 130 cubic meters per second (cms)  to only 30 cms with its water elevation down to 699.15 meters as of Feb. 27, a mere 81 centimeters from its shutdown point.

‘‘We can’t even control the flow of water anymore since its level is already well below our control gates,” Adiong said.

From a total rated capacity of  727 mw as of March 2, Agus complex can now only deliver 110 mw while the Pulangi complex in Bukidnon which is rated at 255 mw can now only supply 40 mw.

The Mindanao grid has a total contracted capacity of 1,334 mw to distribution utilities, industries and electric cooperatives but is now capable of supplying 825 mw as of March 2 with a deficit of 825 mw, said Elsa Mercado, Napocor manager for marketing and commercial relations.

In a tumultuous meeting hosted by the Distribution Management Committee here last Tuesday, power customers had no recourse but to agree to a new scheme coordinated by committee which allocates them with a load capacity to maintain rather than to shed as in the previous two months.

“We can only ensure delivery of 600 mw to the grid at this critical time so we are asking all consumers to help us prevent the grid from collapsing by complying with their pro-rated loads,” said Eugene Bicar of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP). “Should any of our consumers persist in operating beyond their assigned loads to maintain, we have no recourse but to cut them off for the greater good of the many.”

However, utilities and cooperatives insist it is the responsibility of Napocor to secure additional sources of power to deliver the contracted demand they have committed to deliver to all customers.

Many industries said there is no way they can further curtail demand under the 50-percent capacity scenario presented by Napocor and NGCP other than to shut down completely.

The committee agreed to look into this concern in its next meeting to address the plight of the stricken industries.

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