It’s because of Agus, not Steag

By NITZ ARANCON
Correspondent

THE National Power Corp. (Napocor) was supposed to ensure that the Agus and Pulangi hyrdroelectric power plants would go full blast at a time when the Mindanao grid lost 105 megawatts due to the preventive maintenance shutdown of one of the generation units of the independent power producer Steag State Power Inc. in Misamis Oriental.

Instead, the exact opposite happened. Napocor proved unprepared as two generating units of two Agus plants in Lanao del Norte bogged down at a time when Mindanao needed these maximized in order to cushion the impact of the Steag maintenance shutdown.

Unit 2 of the Agus 6 plant and Unit 1 of the Agus 7 plant bogged down, revealed Engr. Dennis Taal, chief control officer of the Iligan-Cagayan de Oro Control Center of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP).

Taal said the two generating units would have produced 85 mw for Mindanao. The Agus 6 unit has a generating capacity of 55 mw while the Agus 7 unit could have produced 30 mw more.

“We could have lessened the power outages,” he said. Taal said it was unfortunate in that the water level of Lake Lanao, the primary source of hydroelectric power in the Mindanao grid, was sufficient.

“Layo pa man kini sa critical level,” said Taal. “But Napocor could not generate enough power because of problems in its generators.”

Steag shut down one of its power plant’s two 105-mw generating units in Villanueva, Misamis Oriental so it could carry out maintenance works.

Jerome Soldevilla, Steag communications officer, told the Gold Star Daily in an earlier interview that the firm was following a schedule.

Soldevilla said the Department of Energy (DOE), Napocor, and NGCP were fully aware of the Steag schedule, and had time to prepare.

Cagayan Electric Power and Light Co. (Cepalco) vice president Ralph Paguio said there was uncertainty over the local power supply, and he could not say if there would be an improvement in the supply from the Mindanao grid or if the situation would worsen in the coming days.

“It’s hard to say,” Paguio said. The city was spared from the daily rotating blackouts the weekend after last supposedly because of improved production of the Pulangi hydroelectric plant in Bukidnon. But the daily three- to four-hour blackouts hit the city again the whole week starting on Monday.

Paguio said Cepalco was expecting to receive additional power from Therma South Inc., “and I hope their new plant will be able to deliver more power.”

He said Mindanao’s power generation capacity was expected to improve on or before Aug. 16 or after Steag completes its maintenance work on the 105-mw generating unit.