DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/19 March) — The franchise area of Davao Light and Power Company (DLPC) will need additional 10 megawatts of additional power source for every “one degree” increase in temperature as the summer period kicks in.
“That’s our rule of thumb,” DLPC senior vice president Arturo Milan told reporters at the sidelines of the signing of the memorandum of agreement between Aboitiz and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) for the implementation of a project for the linemen and electricians on Friday.
Based on the DLPC’s data, one megawatt of electricity can light up the needs of a total of 4,167 customers, which means a total of 41,670 customers are at risk of losing power if 10 MW additional requirement could not be met during summer period.
DLPC has 350,000 consumers within its franchise area, covering Davao City, Brgy. Bincungan in Tagum City, and Carmen, Sto. Tomas and Braulio Dujali towns in Davao del Norte.
Weather forecast for Sunday in Davao City is a high of 36 degrees and a low of 22.
Milan said the power situation in DLPC’s franchise area slightly improved after the Agus 1 and Agus 2, with combined capacity of 80 MW, were reconnected to the grid last Monday, but this is not enough to cover the franchise requirement.
DLPC’s daily requirement averages 345 MW.
Milan said there was no brownout on Wednesday and Thursday because of the Araw ng Dabaw holidays. “There was no work and no factories were running,” he said. “But everybody’s back to work and the demand for power increases again.”
With the improvement in the supply, Milan said they are hoping to minimize the rotational brownouts to at least 30 minutes a day.
The Department of Energy (DOE) earlier revealed that three more coal-fired power plants will run within the year: the 100-MW unit of the Sarangani Energy Corporation in Maasim, Sarangani will operate sometime in April 2016 while San Miguel Power Corporation’s two power plants, each with a capacity of 150 MW, will begin operations in the second half of the year.
“When we have all these three plants, rotational brownouts will be a thing of the past,” Milan said. (Antonio L. Colina IV / MindaNews)
