Alcantara Group sees rotational brownouts in Mindanao

Mindanao continues to experience rotational blackouts, with some areas still suffering from four to five-hour power outages, a ranking official of the Alcantara Group, a major power player in Mindanao said over the weekend.

However, the tight power supply situation in the island is expected to improve by the second half of the year, said Joseph Nocos, vice-president for Business Development of Alsons Consolidated Resources Inc., the holding company of the Alcantara Group which has investments in power.

He said that when the rainy season comes, there would be some improvement in power supply in the island, which is heavily reliant on hydropower plants. Reserves are estimated at between 200 and 300 megawatts, he said.

“But when the rainy season comes there will be a significant improvement. And Steag is coming back in by June. So I think we can expect a return to normalcy. Again, caveat is barring any unforeseen dry spells,” Nocos said.

He added that there is still a 50-50 percent chance of El Nino occurring this year.

“We’re forecasting, according to the DOE ( Department of Energy) and NGCP (National Grid Corp. of the Philippines) forecast, the supply situation to improve a little bit by the second half of the year. That’s barring any unforeseen continuation of the dry spells. Summer months as you know, elevation is low but when the rainy season comes, we expect that there would be some improvement in the supply,” Nocos said.

He said at present, all available non-hydro power capacity other than the 210-megawatt coal-fired power plant of German-owned Steag State Power is already running.

“So we can say all available resource are being prepared to supply the needs of Mindanao during the summer months,” Nocos said, adding that this is expected to continue after summer.