Thinning power reserves, which could result in power outages, forced the Department of Energy (DOE) to place Luzon on red alert on Monday afternoon.
Despite this, DOE officials said the island of Luzon—which is home to the country’s central business district and economic zones—was able to avoid brownouts.
“There’s the 340-megawatt [MW] regulating reserves that the NGCP [National Grid Corp. of the Philippines] was able to tap despite the red alert. This was the reason we did not have any brownout,” Energy Undersecretary Mylene C. Capongcol said.
The red alert was issued from 2 to 3 p.m. Prior to 2 p.m., NGCP issued a yellow alert starting 10 a.m.
A yellow alert means thin power reserves. This is issued when power reserves dwindle and fall below 647 MW.
“A red alert is issued when there is zero contingency reserve, which is about 647 MW. However, there is another security layer, the regulating reserves. This is NGCP’s last card,” Capongcol said.
After 3 p.m. on Monday, the alert shifted to yellow. The DOE lifted the yellow alert at 4:30 p.m due to “sufficient operating reserves.” Monday’s yellow alert was the sixth notice issued by NGCP for this month. The same alert was issued on June 3, 15, 17, 26 and 27.
In a separate advisory issued at 5 p.m., NGCP said, “Luzon grid was placed on red alert due to zero contingency reserve. Forecast load for 2 p.m. is 8,679 MW, while available capacity is 8,948 MW.”
A red-alert notice is issued by NGCP due to forced outages of a number of power plants. The power plants that went on forced outage include Calaca 1 (300 MW), SLTEC 1 (121 MW) and Ilijan Block A (600 MW).
Meanwhile, a number of power plants reduced their output. These include Quezon Power—from 460 MW to 188 MW, and the Santa Rita module—from 264 MW to 80 MW. Pagbilao 1 (382 MW), on the other hand, is still on scheduled maintenance.
As a precaution, the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) has called on its Interruptible Load Program (ILP) participants to be on standby. “They are being notified and asked to confirm readiness to activate, if needed,” Meralco Utility Economics Head Larry S. Fernandez said.
As of 1 p.m. on Monday, 197 ILP participants confirmed their readiness, equivalent to 340 MW of deloading capacity. Under the ILP scheme, big power users will be asked to run their own generators when supply is short in the summer months, instead of getting their power from the Luzon grid. In exchange, they will be compensated for their fuel costs. The electricity that would not be taken from the grid would be available to households and other users, sparing them from rotating blackouts.
(With a report from PNA)