Mindanao brownouts worsening

Daily power outages in southern Philippines now last much longer than the two to four hours that were earlier reported.

Lualhati Antonino, the chairman of the Mindanao Development Authority, on Monday said that the hardest hit in Mindanao by the rotating brownouts of six to eight hours every day is SOCCSKSARGEN (South Cotabato, Cotabato City, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and General Santos City).

Other places in southern Philippines still have their share of the two to four hours of the power outages.

Antonino called on the Senate and the House of Representatives to probe the power shortage, claiming that there is abundant electricity in the whole of Mindanao.

“I urged members of Congress to spearhead the investigation and find out for themselves what is the real score behind the problem of massive brownouts in Mindanao,” she told reporters during the weekly forum Kapihan sa Diamond Hotel.
According to Antonino, the shortage is man-made.

She explained that she had learned that Pulangi 1, a hydroelectric plant, is only allowed to produce 185 megawatts for the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) despite its readiness to pump 225 megawatts of electricity into the grid.

“Why is Pulangi not allowed to pump the remaining 45 megawatts? At least it will lessen the rotating brownouts [if the 45 megawatts were allowed to enter the grid],” Antonino said.

She added that she was wondering if the rotating brownouts were the result of some independent power producers (IPPs) being favored and some being barred by the government.

She said that hydroelectric power is much cheaper than power bought from the favored IPPs, adding that she sees no reason why the NGCP should prohibit other IPPs from injecting additional electric power into the grid.

“If there is more competition, the price of electricity will certainly go down but if there is cartel among the players allowed to sell electricity, the price for the end users is certainly high,” Antonino added.

With the dry season fast approaching, she said, government officials should immediately put a stop to favoring one IPP over another, or local and foreign investors would have no choice but to leave Mindanao because of the artificial power shortage on the island. –Sammy Martin, Reporter, Manila Times