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Tuesday, March 2, 2010

PAF gets ready for cloud seeding operations in Region 10


PIA Press Release
2010/03/01

PAF gets ready for cloud seeding operations in Region 10

Cagayan de Oro City (1 March) -- Cloud seeding operations to induce the occurrence of rain will be conducted in region 10, by the 900th Air Weather Group of the Philippine Air Force (PAF), starting Feb. 26, this year.
Included areas are the watershed of major reservoirs used for irrigation and in areas where the crop stage would require water, Regional Executive Director Lealyn A. Ramos of the Department of Agriculture, Chairperson of the El Niño Task Force in Northern Mindanao, said.
The priority areas, however, are those near the river basins of Lake Lanao in Lanao del Sur and the Pulangi River in Bukidnon because of the need to bring to the required levels the water that drive the turbines of the hydro-electric plants in the area.
Both bodies of water have reached critical levels because of the recent dry spell due to the El Niño affecting the supply of electricity that resulted in the rotating brown-outs of the region, Ramos said.
To calculate the rain to fall in the target area, the wind direction, speed on the ground and winds aloft along with the type of cloud, air temperature, relative humidity and barometric pressure below and cooling from above are considered in the operation.
In warm cloud seeding, the base of the cloud is 2,000 ft and the top varies from10,000 ft ? 15,000ft. with a towering cumulus cloud (TCU), a cloud with generally sharp outlines and with moderate to great vertical development, characterized by is cauliflower or tower appearance using Sodium Chloride (NaCl) or iodized salt.
Ramos, who accompanied some of the sorties, said so far, PAF's 900th AWG will be in the region to perform cloud seeding operations for 70 flying hrs. with each sortie done at an average of one (1) hour and 30 min.
Mostly done in the morning to disperse some three (3) sacks of iodized salt for each sortie, about six (6) sorties have already been done by this special unit of the PAF, as of last Saturday, Feb. 27, she said.
Cloud seeding is a highly technical and hazardous endeavor, usually done to offset the insufficiency of rainfall reported over an area, while rainmaking is a scientific technology that produces artificial rain or a weather modification that makes rain during the summer season, Ramos said. (PIA 10)

30MW from Iligan diesel plant on-stream Monday — Napocor

30MW from Iligan diesel plant on-stream Monday — Napocor 


By Ryan Rosauro
Inquirer Mindanao
First Posted 16:57:00 03/01/2010

Filed Under: Electricity Production & Distribution


CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines -- After more than two weeks of being shut down, the Iligan Diesel Power Plant (IDPP) is now being operated by the National Power Corporation to help ease power supply shortage in Mindanao.
Around 11 a.m. Monday, the 35-megawatt power plant was “heating up” and was scheduled to be on-stream in the Mindanao grid around noontime, said Pedro Ambos, division manager for generation and performance of Napocor’s Mindanao Generation unit.

But the plant would provide only 30 megawatts to the Mindanao grid, added Ambos.

The IDPP has not been in operation since early February, when water levels in dams, on which hydropower facilities depend, went down due to the dry spell.

A Monday morning advisory from the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) placed the power deficiency of Mindanao at 390 megawatts for the entire day.

This is the worst since the power crisis began last month.

NGCP noted that there has been an 80 percent reduction in the capabilities of Napocor’s Agus hydro-electric power plants. Its Pulangi plants also experience 90 percent reduction in capabilities.

“It’s getting worse everyday,” observed Ambos, referring to the continuing decline of hydro-power generation capacity.
Ambos said that as of Monday morning, the water level in Lake Lanao was at 699.07 meters, already below the critical point of 699.15 meters. At this level, plant engineers reported that some silt had entered the turbines, Ambos revealed.
If the water level further fell down to 698.15 meters, Ambos said, the Napocor would implement a forced shutdown of the plants to protect them from damage.

Apart from the continuing decline in hydroelectric power generation capability, the non-availability of Power Barge 117, with a capacity of 100 MW, has exacerbated the problem, said the NGCP.

According to Ambos, Power Barge 117, along with Power Barge 118, is now owned by the Aboitiz Group, and Napocor no longer has discretion over when to have it on-stream in the Mindanao grid.

Ambos disclosed that the remaining power generation capability for Napocor at this stage is the

Apart from the IDPP, only the 54-megawatt IDPP 2 was left with Napocor, but it would need reconditioning as this has not operated for some three years now.
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