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MANILA, Philippines – The scheduled maintenance shutdown of the Malampaya natural gas facility off Palawan was moved to a later date as the country braces for typhoon Yolanda, one of the world’s strongest typhoons this year.
The maintenance was originally scheduled on November 9-December 8. It was moved to November 11-December 10.
The consortium that runs Malampaya decided to reschedule it after considering the safety of people who will be working on the facility offshore.
As of 10 am Thursday, November 7, Yolanda was spotted 637 kilometers east of Hinatuan, Surigao del Sur or 738 km southeast of Guiuan, Eastern Samar. It was carrying maximum sustained winds of 215 kilometers per hour.
The state weather bureau raised storm signal warnings in over 30 areas across the country.
Local and foreign meteorologists branded Yolanda (international name Haiyan) as one of the most catastrophic and strongest typhoons to hit the planet in 2013.
Maintenance shutdown
The Malampaya facility, which provides 1,200 megawatts of natural gas, undergoes a maintenance shutdown every 2 years.
This year’s shutdown is expected to cause a spike of P1 to P2 per kilowatt-hour in the generation charge of the country’s biggest power distributor Manila Electric Company (Meralco).
Malampaya supplies gas to 3 natural gas-fired plants in Luzon: the 1,200-megawatt Ilijan plant, 1,000-MW Sta. Rita and 500-MW San Lorenzo plants. During the shutdown, these plants will use more expensive fuel to provide electricity.
The Department of Energy (DOE) earlier urged consumers to conserve electricity as they will bear additional generation costs arising from Malampaya’s maintenance. Generation charges are pass-through charges that power distributors collect from consumers and remit to power generation companies.
“If we don’t do the maintenance and we have a problem, it may get worse. People must be prepared for higher electricity rates. After all, the most expensive electricity is having no electricity,” DOE secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla previously said.
DOE said it will coordinate with the Malampaya consortium, power generation companies, National Grid Corporation of the Philippines, and Meralco to ensure adequate and reliable supply of power during the maintenance period. – Rappler.com
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