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Mindanao faces fewer outages once Pulangi hydropower plant is repaired–DOE


Mindanao will still have rotating two- to three-hour outages even after the rehabilitation of Pulangi 4 hydropower plant next month, Energy Undersecretary Josefina Patricia Asirit told GMA News Online in an interview Thursday.
 
“There will still be rotating brownouts. But the power shortage will be partly eased," Asirit said on the sidelines of a media seminar on energy in Quezon City.
 
The repair of Pulangi hydropower plant, which started last April 17, would cost P11 million. It is expected to be completed on May 17, according to the Department of Energy official.
 
With the plant's one-month shutdown, the Mindanao power grid lost 130 megawatts (MW), she added.
 
The grid has a peak demand of 1,300 MW, and a supply shortfall of 170 MW.
 
“Now is the best time when the plant has to be repaired because of its low water level,'' Asirit noted.
 
The plant's headrace channel–where the water flows–is being repaired, she said, adding, “There will also be selective dredging...” of the riverbed.
 
Meanwhile, Asirit said Agus 6 hydropower plant has been undergoing repair since June 2011.
 
“It will cost P2.6 billion and will be completed within 30 months or in 2014,” she added.
 
The rehabilitation of the hydropower plant will add another 30 years to its lifespan, she said.
 
Agus 6 was built in 1952, the oldest dam in Mindanao.
 
DOE will also rehabilitate Mindanao's river basins at a cost of P7.2 billion. —VS/HS, GMA News
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