Plant ups production as Malampaya shuts down

LINGAYEN, PANGASINAN—San Roque Power Corp. (SRPC) in San Manuel town has tripled its production to make up for the 20-day prescheduled maintenance shutdown of the Malampaya natural gas fields in Palawan province.

The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) requested the plant on Jan. 28 to produce 373 megawatts of power, which is about three times its normal power generation of 110 MW, said Tom Valdez, SRPC vice president for corporate affairs.

The shutdown meant the Luzon grid lost 2,700 MW of electricity, according to Editha Palencia, head of NGCP’s power network planning division.

SRPC is one of the generating plants that NGCP tapped to augment electricity supply which the Luzon grid distributes to consumers in the provinces, said Valdez in a briefing to the provincial board on Monday.

The natural gas fields provide fuel for three natural gas plants: Ilijan, which has a capacity of 1,200 MW; Sta. Rita, 1,000 MW; and San Lorenzo, 500 MW.

As a “peaking” plant, SRPC produces power only during peak hours from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. In the process, the dam releases 70 cubic meters per second of water through its tailrace, a water channel below the dam.

Despite the higher power generation, there would be sufficient water in the dam for irrigation until May, he added.

Valdez said that as of 11 a.m. on Monday, the dam’s water level was 276.85 meters above sea level. “This means that we have more than enough water for power and irrigation until the next cropping season,” Valdez said. —GABRIEL CARDINOZA