Repair of leak in Mindanao hydro power plant completed

MANILA, Philippines—The National Power Corp. said late Tuesday the Agus 6 hydroelectric power plant in Lanao del Sur was operating normally again and generating 116 megawatts of electricity following the completion earlier in the day of repair work on its dam’s  leaking blow-off pipe.

One of the facility’s four generating units, however, was still shut down for regular maintenance.

The plant, located in Iligan City in Lanao del Norte, was generating only 80 megawatts prior to the repair of the leaking blow-off pipe, which was first discovered in mid-March.

A press statement issued by Napocor late Tuesday afternoon said the Agus 6 facility underwent specialized underwater repair work to plug a leak  in the Agus 6 dam’s blow-off pipe.

It said silt and clay deposits at the  entrance of Units 3 and 4 penstocks where the blow-off pipe is located had to be hauled away with the use of a  35-ton crane with clamp-shell. Local divers assisted by an experienced in-house Agus 6 diver were able to pinpoint the leak and seal it by filling it with two to four inches of rock combined with stuffing materials.

However, the 50-MW Unit 3 of Agus 6 remained shut down as it was undergoing a scheduled maintenance checkup, but plant personnel were working on putting it back online soonest, Napocor said.

Napocor vice president for Mindanao generation Rudy P. Brioso noted that with the successful plugging of the leak, the plant management was confident the problem would not recur.

The Agus 6 hydropower plant is composed of four power units. Units 1 and 2, which can generate 25 MW each, were commissioned in 1953. Units 3 and 4, which can generate 50 MW each, were commissioned in 1977.

Agus 6 is part of the Agus hydropower complex which, together with the Pulangi hydropower facility, provides more than half of Mindanao’s electricity requirements.

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