2-hour daily power outage in Davao starts

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – This city and nearby areas will experience a two-hour daily rotating power outage as a coal-fired power plant starts today its month-long preventive maintenance shutdown.

Longer power outages are also expected in other areas in Mindanao.

The Davao Light and Power Co. announced the outage as the region’s power supply would be reduced by 210 megawatts (MW).

It has drawn up a schedule for the daily power outages here based on the location of the sub-stations in the city.

Steag State Power Inc. (SPI) starts repair of its power unit 1 from today to March 2. The repair of unit 2 will be until March 16.

SPI’s plant is located in Misamis Oriental.

Meanwhile, San Fernando City in La Union, the nearby towns of San Juan and Bauang and other areas serviced by the La Union Electric Co. will experience an eight-hour power outage today, the National Power Grid Corp. (NGCP) said.

The power interruption, which will occur from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., is due to maintenance work and testing of the power transformer and equipment at NGCP’s Bauang substation and along Bauang-San Fernando power lines, said Lilibeth Gaydowen, NGCP communications officer.

The Department of Energy said the cause of a seven-hour blackout that hit four provinces in the Visayas Region on Thursday remains unknown. – Edith Regalado, Iris Gonzales, Jun Elias