Magat Dam can still produce power for Luzon grid

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines – The Magat Dam, one of Luzon’s major power sources, can still generate power for the Luzon grid even as its water level has dropped below normal due to lack of rainfall.

SN Aboitiz Power (SNAP), which owns and operates the dam’s power facility, said the dam is still capable of generating power although at a reduced level due to the continued drop in its water elevation.

“At present, the dam can still generate power although at a reduced level which is only very minimal from its maximum capacity,” said lawyer Mike Hosillos, SNAP corporate communications officers.

The dam, located along the Ifugao-Isabela border, can generate a maximum capacity of 380 megawatts. It is the second biggest power provider among hydro-dams in the Luzon grid.

Besides power generation, the dam is also the source of irrigation for more than 80,000 hectares of farmlands in Isabela and parts of Cagayan and Quirino. The state-run National Irrigation Administration (NIA) operates the dam’s irrigation component.

Hosillos said the dam’s present volume of water, although considered below normal, is still within the minimum operational level of at least 160 meters.

As of yesterday, NIA engineer Saturnino Tenedor, also Magat’s instrumentation and forecasting officer, said the dam’s water elevation further dropped to 167.2 meters, way below the normal level of at least 180 meters.  

The more than three-decade-old Magat Dam, once Asia’s biggest hydroelectric dam, had its all-time low of 149 meters in July 1991.   

The dam shut down in March 2010 when its water level dropped to 152.7 meters, below the minimum operational level for power generation of 160 meters.

The dam’s irrigation facility would be temporarily shut down if the dam’s water elevation reaches below 150 meters. Authorities, however, allayed fears of irrigation shortage in the region amid the summer heat.

Earlier, Hosillos said the present water volume at the 105-MW Ambuklao Dam, said to be the country’s oldest dam, and the 125-MW Binga Dam, both located in Benguet, was on a safe level for power generation.

SNAP, a Filipino-Norwegian consortium, also owns and operates the two dams.