SCANT energy reserves could trigger power cuts on the main Philippine island of Luzon, after a major generating plant was shut following an oil leakage, Energy Secretary Delfin Lazaro said in Manila yesterday.
The Energy Department ended a two-year power crisis earlier this year by commissioning several new generating plants, but Mr Lazaro said reserves dipped after a spillage earlier this month at the 320-megawatt Malaya thermal plant.
''The system will continue to have thin reserves during the next two weeks,'' Mr Lazaro said in a letter to President Fidel Ramos.
''Without the Malaya plant, power interruptions during peak load hours may occur when a generating unit fails, or when the demand goes up beyond our forecast,'' Mr Lazaro added.
The department said power reserves were expected to average 124.28 megawatts through to the end of July and persist until August 6, when the Malaya plant was reopened.
Mr Lazaro told Mr Ramos that ''we are doing our utmost best to overcome the critical power situation'', and that ''our hydro plants are running at full blast''.
