Celso meets Zamcelco on blackout sked
Mayor Celso Lobregat yesterday met with representatives from the Zamboanga City Electric Cooperative (ZAMCELCO) to determine the possibility of coming up with a fixed load shedding or blackout schedule within the cooperative’s service area.
This, in view of observations of unpredictable blackout schedules being imposed by ZAMCELCO due to the continuing power supply curtailments implemented by the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP).
Many consumers complain of damage to electrical appliances due to the unannounced and unpredictable black out schedules.
Mayor Lobregat has floated the idea of Zamcelco studying the possibility of having scheduled brownouts and yesterday, the cooperative came out with a proposed scheme with a curtailment load of about 44 megawatts.
The meeting attended by Zamcelco load dispatcher Engr. Melad and City Administrator Antonio Orendain Jr. lasted for almost two hours and tackled issues about peak, normal and low power hours to determine the appropriate blackout schedule.
“There should be some improvements on the proposed scheme”, the mayor said, stressing that power interruptions are necessary in view of the curtailment but the blackout schedule should be fixed and should be organized.
Based on the proposed scheme, a 6-hour blackout is expected to be imposed in the city in varying areas.
Because of the dry spell, El Nino, the NGCP was forced to impose power curtailment all over Mindanao.
Over 50 percent of the 2,000 megawatt power generated in Mindanao comes from hydro power plants which are sourced by the Lanao Lake. The continuing decrease in the water level in Lake Lanao has caused the stop in the operation of a number of hydro power plants.
The Zamcelco is expected to come up with the revised blackout schedule any time soon. (Sheila Covarrubias)