Lake Lanao, Pulangi water nearing critical levels

By Froilan Gallardo of Mindanews

LAKE Lanao and Pulangi River have reached lowecord water levels yesterday, forcing power utilities to enforce six- to 10-hour rotational power outages in almost all major Mindanao cities.

The Pulangi River in Bukidnon, Mindanao’s second major source of electricity, has also dried up forcing the National Power Corp. to shut down two of the three turbines in the Pulangi hydro plants.

Brian Diosma of the  Mindanao Authority Power Monitoring Committee said Pulangi hydro plant, which normally generates around 265 mw, is only producing 60 mw as yesterday afternoon.

Elsewhere in Mindanao, Diosma said 12-hour rotational blackouts were imposed in parts of North Cotabato especially in the towns of Midsayap, Pikit and Aleosan.

Davao and General Santos cities are experiencing six-hour daily brownouts, according to the data from the Mindanao Authority.

Diosma said only the province of Agusan del Sur which bought a modular generating set is experiencing lesser period of blackouts. He said Bayugan city and other towns in Agusan del Sur are only experiencing two hours of blackouts every day.

Ralph Paguio, a vice president of the Cagayan Electric Power and Light Co. (Cepalco), said they were informed that the water level of Lake Lanao has fallen below 699.4 meters yesterday, dangerously close to the critical level of 699.15 meters.

Paguio said this has forced Cepalco to impose a seven hours and 30 minutes of daily rotational blackouts across the city starting Tuesday night.

“The entry of Steag on Thursday will be the only welcome news. The power situation really needs the extra source of electricity,” Paguio said.

Steag State Power Inc. (SPI), which operates a 210 MW coal plant in Villanueva, Misamis Oriental, announced that its Unit 1 power generator will start supplying 105 megawatts to the Mindanao grid tomorrow.

Jerome Soldevilla, SPI communications officer,  said the second unit of power generator, also capable of supplying  another 105 mw, will resume operations on June 1.

Both generators of Steag were damaged and conked out during a Mindanao-wide fault last Feb. 27.

Soldevilla said their entry tomorrow will add 10 percent to the supply of electricity in Mindanao.

“We hope our entry can decrease the power outages by two hours,” Soldevilla said.

Paguio said Cagayan de Oro needs 140 mw a day but presently the NGCP and Napocor can only supply around 29 megawatts.

He said Cepalco has other power sources like their 42-mw Minergy plant and are still looking for other sources.

He said they are also keeping an eye at the warning of Pagasa of an impending El Nino.