THE National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) said it expects the Luzon grid to experience four more red alerts until next week, following an unplanned outage at a power plant in Mariveles, Bataan.
“We foresee a sustained grid alert status for the next few days until Monday, June 7, because of thinning power supply. We see red alerts coming in tomorrow (June 2), Thursday (June 3), until Friday (June 4). We will have a short break in the weekend because demand is low but we see another red alert status on Monday (June 7),” NGCP Spokesperson Cynthia P. Alabanza said at a virtual briefing Tuesday.
Ms. Alabanza added that the Luzon grid may be put on yellow alert on June 5, 6 and 8.
When reserves fall below ideal levels, the grid operator issues a yellow alert. This moves to a red alert should the supply-demand balance worsen. The Department of Energy (DoE) has clarified that yellow alerts do not warrant power interruptions, while red alerts trigger rotating brownouts.
On Tuesday, the NGCP declared a red alert over the Luzon grid between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m., and then 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. The grid was on yellow alert between 9 and 10 a.m., 5 and 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. and 12 midnight.
In a separate statement, the Department of Energy (DoE) said it met with the NGCP and GNPower Mariveles Energy Center (GMEC) to discuss the unplanned outage of Unit 2 of the GMEC coal-fired plant on Tuesday morning.
“This resulted in the Luzon Grid going on red alert… and yellow alert,” the DoE said. On Monday, the same plant was unavailable due to a suspected boiler tube leak. The plant is scheduled to go online by June 8.
As of Tuesday, total planned outages were equivalent to 435 megawatts (MW), with outages at Units 1, 2 and 3 of the San Roque Power Corp.’s hydroelectric plant. Meanwhile, forced outages amounted to 1,579 MW, including the 647-MW Sual Unit 2 coal-fired plant; Units 1 and 2 of the GMEC coal-fired plant at 345-MW each; and Unit 2 of the Calaca coal-fired plant.
The DoE estimates that some 484 MW has been rendered unavailable from the 1,200-MW KEPCO Ilijan Corp. gas plant due to disrupted supply from the Malampaya gas field.
“The DoE continues to monitor the power situation and will submit the additional pieces of information for the consumers and the enforcement agencies, including the Energy Regulatory Commission, the Philippine Competition Commission and the Department of Justice, considering its long-term strategy of addressing the power supply and demand situation during the summer season,” the department said in a statement.
The DoE also reminded distribution utilities and the system operator of their duty to address the required capacity increases on the grid.
Manila Electric Co. separately announced Tuesday that it may implement manual load dropping or rotational power outages in portions of Cavite, Batangas, Laguna, Metro Manila and Rizal until 3 p.m.
The distribution utility added that 85% of the total participants in the DoE’s interruptible load program (ILP) have committed to participate, as of 11:30 a.m. ILP participants have their own means of generating power and voluntarily reduce their take from the grid during peak hours. — Angelica Y. Yang