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AFP - Tuesday, March 2

MANILA, March 1, 2010 (AFP) – Parts of the Philippine capital suffered blackouts on Monday, officials said, as a drought-induced power crisis deepened across the impoverished Southeast Asian nation.

The Manila Electric Company, which serves the city's 12 million residents, said it was forced to implement two-hour rotating power outages across the capital and neighbouring provinces to help address an energy shortfall.

"The rotational brownout... was due to power deficiency brought about by the NGCP's plants trouble," it said in an advisory to customers.

NGCP or the National Grid Corp. operates the country's national power grid.

The company said the power deficiency was mainly due to a lack of rainfall, with hydro power accounting for about 30 percent of the nation's electricity output.

Infrastructure problems at two power plants in the south that have been temporarily shut down have also added to the problem.

NGCP began curtailing electricity supply to distributors on Mindanao island early last month, with blackouts there over the past month sometimes lasting for half a day.

The blackouts have affected many major cities on Mindanao, home to about 22 million people, including major port cities.


Source: http://asia.news.yahoo.com/afp/20100302/tap-philippines-electricity-drought-5cc1ef8.html