No more brownouts in 16 Mindanao areas–Palace

MANILA, Philippines—Sixteen areas in Mindanao are no longer experiencing brownouts after the Department of Energy directed all electric cooperatives to nominate their needed power to supply their demands, a Malacañang official said on Tuesday.

Abigail Valte, a spokesperson of President Aquino, said the 360-megawatt deficit in the affected regions has gone down to between 100 to 160 MW.

The areas that no longer experience power outages are Cotabato, Panabo, Cagayan de Oro, Iligan, Davao, Malaybalay, Dipolog, Dapitan, Valencia, Camiguin, Digos, Tagum, Mati, Surigao, Butuan, and Cabadbaran, said  Valte in a news briefing at the Palace on Tuesday.

Valte said DOE officials were in Davao City Tuesday for a stakeholders meeting on the Mindanao power crisis.

The energy summit called by Aquino was expected to take place after the Holy Week break, she said.

Valte said the DOE continues to monitor the concerned cooperatives compliance with Department Circular of DOE 2012-030004, which in March “directed the electric cooperatives to nominate their needed power to supply their demands.”

Aside from the circular that the DOE itself described as a stop-gap measure to address the power shortage, the department said it was also studying other solutions such as the operation of the Iligan Diesel Power Plant.

The said diesel plant is expected to produce an initial power of 15 to 20 megawatts that may increase upon rehabilitation.

The DOE is also looking into the improvements of the Agus and Pulangui hydroelectric power plants.

The department said the power situation in Mindanao is also expected to improve as electric cooperatives get provisional authority for the bilateral power service by the Energy Regulatory Commission.

Electric cooperatives have already contracted an aggregate total of 192 MW, of which 20 MW is still subject to the ERC’s issuance of provisional authority.