Rains bring respite from summer heat to Mindanao

By: Allan Nawal - 10 years ago

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – Rains, sometimes lasting up to an hour each day, have brought some respite from the summer heat to many parts of Mindanao and officials said they hoped the downpours, which are forecast to continue for a while, would help ease the island’s power shortage by raising the level of water in Lake Lanao and the Agus River as well as the Pulangi River.

The Agus River, which flows from Lake Lanao to Iligan Bay, and Pulangi, the longest river in Bukidnon province and a major tributary of the Rio Grande, provide the water that turns the turbines of major hydroelectric power plants that generate more than 50 percent of the island’s power requirements.

Mindanao has been suffering from a serious lack of power supply for months now for various reasons, one of them the low watger lev els at the Agus and Pulangi rivers, according to the National Power Corp.

In many areas, power outages last up to 10 hours each day, making it difficult to bear temperatures of up to 33 degrees celsius.

The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines said on its website that Mindanao suffers from a shortfall of nearly 230 megawatts as peak demand reaches 1,190 megawatts versus the actual supply of 946 megawatts.

The problem of low water levels at the Agus and Pulangi rivers has been worsened by the breakdown of a generating unit of State Power Inc. in Misamis Oriental, which has a capacity of 105 megawatts.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said Mindanao would continue to experience “isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms mostly in the afternoon or evening due to the ridge of aigh pressure area (HPA)” that has been affecting Luzon as well.

A weather forecast prepared by Gener Quitlong, Pagasa duty forecaster on Monday, said an intertropical convergence zone was expected to develop on May and would bring “scattered rainshowers and thunderstorms to Mindanao” and the rest of the country.

Godofredo Guya, manager of the Davao del Sur Electric Coop. (Dasureco), told reporters in Digos City last week that the only way to boost the supply of electricity in Mindanao these days was an increase in the level of water in Lake Lanao and Pulangi River.

In fact, because Pulangi has almost dried up, Napocor said it was forced to shut down two of the three turbines at the hydropower complex there.

Napocor had reported that unless rains came soon, it might also be forced to shut down the Agus systems if the water there fell below the critical level of 699.15 meters. Last week, the water level there was at 699.40 meters.