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MANILA, Philippines - (UPDATED 5:12 p.m.) State-owned National Power Corp. (Napocor) has completed the rehabilitation of the Pulangi IV hydroelectric power plant in Bukidnon on Tuesday, or nine days ahead of the original target date of May 17.
With the Agus-Pulangi hydropower complex supplying half of Mindanao's energy supply, the early completion of Pulangi IV would ease the tight electricity situation in the area.
"The repair significantly improves available generation capacity to meet the demand requirements of Mindanao," Energy Undersecretary Josefina Patricia M. Asirit said.
According to state-run National Electrification Administration, 22 out of the 27 electric cooperatives connected to the Mindanao grid suffered from supply disruptions before the Pulangi plant resumed operations. With an initial 150-megawatt capacity brought on stream, electric cooperatives hit by outages decreased to 14.
Froilan A. Tampinco, Napocor president, said the repair of the 26-year-old power plant was completed earlier than scheduled because of the concerted efforts of the company's operations personnel and Mamasar Construction, the contractor for the rehab project.
“Our plant personnel at Pulangi IV worked 24/7 with our private contractor to bring the power plant back online at the earliest time possible, and for this we commend them,” he added.
Official data from Napocor's Mindanao generation group show that Unit 1 of Pulangi IV was energized at 3:02 p.m. Tuesday, while Unit 2 went online at 5:15 p.m.. The third and final unit was synchronized to the Mindanao grid at 6:38 p.m.
With the repair work completed, Pulangi IV was producing 150 megawatts as of Wednesday morning. The power plant’s output is expected to increase to 200 megawatts in the afternoon before climbing to a maximum of 250 megawatts during the evening peak hours.
To recall, Napocor shut down Pulangi IV on April 17 to pave the way for the repair of the plant’s headrace channel/surge pool, as well as the preventive maintenance servicing of its three turbine generator units.
Napocor earmarked P7.11 million for the rehabilitation of Pulangi IV. It was the first time that the 255-megawatt power plant underwent major repair works since it started operating in 1986.
Under the rehabilitation project, Napocor was able to restore the stability of the headrace channel and the surge pool riprap protection. The 9.5-kilometer-long headrace channel is that part of the power plant where the water used to run Pulangi IV passes through before going to the turbine generator units.
The rehabilitation of Pulangi IV has been in Napocor’s work program as early as 2011, when major defects such as massive scouring were first noticed on the headrace channel.
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