DAVAO CITY – The power situation in Mindanao will remain stable as the El Niño phenomenon will not likely cause major disruptions to the island’s diverse power mix, an official of the Department of Mindanao (DOE)-Mindanao Field Office said.

Engr. Darwin P. Galang, DOE-Mindanao Field Office senior science research specialist, said that the supply of power will not be disrupted during the period of El Niño owing to the other sources of power in Mindanao.

“The occurrence of El Niño will affect the hydropower plants because there will be reduction of their capacities when the rivers and lakes are dried up,” he said.

Based on the simulation conducted by the agency, Galang said supply of power would remain sufficient "even with 50 percent to 70 percent reduction in the available capacities of hydropower plants in Mindanao."

Engr. Nilo J. Geroche of the DOE-Mindanao Field Office said the agency activated in July the Task Force on Energy Resiliency to monitor the power supply situation in the country and mitigate the impact of calamities including El Niño.

The task force is composed of DOE, National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, Energy Regulatory Commission, Inter-Agency Energy Contingency Committee, various groups in the energy sector, and agencies under the security cluster.

Geroche said the hydropower sources comprise 31.73 percent of the energy mix of Mindanao and contribute an average supply of 1,190 megawatts to the grid.

There is excess supply of power on the island, with available average supply estimated at 2,946 MW and an average demand of 2,051 MW as of August 15, according to Galang.

Geroche said that brownouts could have been caused by other factors on the transmission and distribution side, including insufficiency in contracted power supply of some electric cooperatives and distribution utilities.

He said the problem of lack of contracted power may now be addressed through tapping into the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market where electric cooperatives and distribution utilities can buy power to fill the deficit.

In an advisory on July 4, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said the El Niño is already present in the tropical pacific.

It said that Pagasa’s climate monitoring and analyses indicated that “the unusual warming of sea surface temperatures along the equatorial Pacific that was established in March 2023 has further developed into a weak El Niño, which shows signs of strengthening in the coming months.”

It said that the El Niño increases the likelihood of below-normal rainfall conditions, which could bring negative impacts such as dry spells and droughts in some areas of the country that may adversely impact the different climate-sensitive sectors, such as water resources, agriculture, energy, health, and public safety.