The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) placed the Luzon grid on red alert for the third consecutive day on Wednesday due to insufficient power supply.
NGCP issued the red alert power status for the Luzon grid from 1PM to 4PM, 6PM and 10PM, and yellow alert from 12PM to 1PM, 4PM to 6PM, and 10PM to 12AM on May 30.
It said available power generation capacity was at 12,950 megawatts (MW) while peak demand was forecasted at 12,749MW. NGCP said a total of 3,177.3 megawatts were unavailable to the grid.
Several factors contributed to the raising of red and yellow alerts, particularly the forced outage of the following plants: Pagbilao 1 (382MW), Pagbilao 2 (382MW), Pagbilao 3 (420MW), QPPL (460MW), San Lorenzo 50 (265MW) and Limay 7 (70MW), derated power plants, and increase in forecasted demand.
Power plants that were derated or operating below capacity are Sual 1, Sual 2, Limay 8, and Ilijan A and B.
A red alert status is issued when power supply is insufficient to meet consumer demand and the transmission grid’s regulating requirement.
A yellow alert is issued when the operating margin is insufficient to meet the transmission grid’s contingency requirement.
For its part, Manila Electric Co. said despite the declaration of a red alert in the Luzon grid on Tuesday, May 28, it did not resort to any manual load dropping (MLD) or rotational power interruptions.
Meralco’s commercial and industrial customers collectively de-loaded around 270 MW, helping avert service disruptions.
“We thank our ILP (interruptible load program) partners who have been beneficial in ensuring continuity of electricity service particularly when Luzon grid supply is insufficient,” Meralco spokesperson and corporate communications head Joe Zaldarriaga said.
“We also acknowledge our customers who are not yet part of the ILP, but voluntarily de-loaded without compensation in the spirit of malasakit (compassion) and bayanihan (cooperation),” Zaldarriaga said.
Meralco said that with the Luzon Grid still under the yellow and red alerts on Wednesday, the power retailer once again started coordinating with its big-load customers for their de-loading commitments to help ease the demand.
“We again ask for the public’s support in helping manage the situation by [continuing to practice] energy conservation and efficiency measures,” Zaldarriaga said.
