Conclusion
dURING summer months a household’s electricity consumption goes up by around 20 percent, according to the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco).
Given this, a typical household with a monthly consumption of 200 kilowatt-hours (kWh) would likely increase its consumption to 240 kWh. Using the March power rates recently released by Meralco, this translates to a bill increase of around P460, from around P1,930 to an estimated P2,390. The figures could still go up, as temperature is expected to rise in April and May.
On top of this, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) approved a monthly P0.22-per-kWh upward-rate adjustments to be included in the March, April and May generation charge, a major component of an electric bill. Meralco needs to recover the amount for sourcing its power requirements from other power suppliers that use liquid fuel during the 20-day shutdown of the Malampaya natural-gas facility.
Meralco, the country’s largest power-distribution utility firm, has laid down its plans for the summer. The utility firm services 6 million customers in its franchise area.
“We are trying to work on more Interim Power Supply Agreements [Ipsa],” Meralco President Oscar S. Reyes said in an interview. “We can’t reveal yet with whom we are negotiating with until details are finalized.” Reyes said Meralco is looking at sourcing 150 megawatts to 200 MW from one power firm and another 100 MW from another company to supply the utility firm’s partial requirements for the summer months until June and July.
“It’s for summer. Hopefully, we can secure approvals at the soonest time possible,” Reyes said.
Additional capacity
TO ensure continuous and reliable electricity for Meralco customers, the company needs to source additional peaking capacity through bilateral power-supply contracts.
These agreements, if approved by the ERC on time, will mitigate its exposure to the Wholesale Electricity Sport Market (WESM) during the summer months.
Based on the power situation outlook for 2017 and succeeding years, Meralco foresees a peaking capacity deficit in its portfolio, especially for the summer months. Based on the utility firm’s distribution development plan for 2015-2020, Meralco’s aggregate capacity requirement is forecasted to grow by a compounded average growth rate (CAGR) of 3.7 percent.
Meraco said the need to secure more power deals is meant to address significant peaking capacity deficit, as well as possible occurrences of scheduled maintenance shutdowns and forced outage of power plants.
The company said it is also working on to extend its Ipsas with Strategic Power Development Corp. (SPDC), Panay Power Corp. (PPC) and Toledo Power Co. (TPC).
In particular, Meralco will extend its IPSA with PPC and TPC for one year from February 26 this year to February 25, 2018. Meralco also plans to source 45 MW from PPC’s 72-MW bunker-oil plant in Iloilo and 28 MW from TPC’s 40-MW bunker-oil-fired plant in Toledo, Cebu.
“Aside from San Roque/Angat, the other Ipsas mentioned are good for one year and will help cover summer loads,” said Meralco Head for Utility Economics Lawrence Fernandez in an interview, adding that Meralco also has a one-year extension of its Ipsa with Bauang 1590. “So, we still have three Ipsas that are available.”
And when needed, Meralo could always activate its Interruptible Load Program (ILP), which works by calling on business customers with loads of at least 1 MW to run their own generator sets, if needed, instead of drawing power from the grid.
With the ILP, power supply from the grid that will not be consumed by participating customers will be available for use by other customers within the franchise area. Through this, the aggregate demand for power from the system will be reduced to a more manageable level, helping ensure the availability of supply.
Meralco’s ILP had helped avoid power outages in some incidents of yellow- and red-alert notices issued in the past years.
Regular maintenance
ON the part of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP), which operates and maintains the country’s transmission system, it remains prepared and vigilant of possible scenarios from thin supply to line tripping incidents.
The grid operator, according to an e-mail reply sent to BusinessMirror, regularly conducts maintenance of all its equipment before the peak months, which usually
occur during summer. It is also closely coordinating with power plants to effectively schedule their planned maintenance shutdowns.
There is also a contingency plan for the summer season being implemented annually, which covers the analysis of power situation, analysis of credible contingency on critical transmission facilities, power quality and review of emergency procedures, as well as readiness of system operation-related facilities.
This is to ensure that the grid is prepared for worst-case incidents, such as reduced generation capability, low voltages during peak demand, high voltages during off-peak, congestion in load centers, yellow- and red-alert state and other critical system con ditions.
Moreover, NGCP is closely cooperating with the DOE and the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM).
“We are in continuous coordination with PSALM for the availability of the Malaya plant and adequacy of its fuel. We are also in close coordination with PSALM on Kalayaan water reservoir elevation,” NGCP said.
Best example
THE Department of Energy (DOE), for its part, has required 140 government entities to submit their electricity consumption from 2015 to 2016 to assess usage.
“We are closely monitoring their energy consumption so that we can provide strategies to help them become more energy-efficient in their daily operations,” the energy chief said.
The agency has enlisted government agencies with available power-generating units that can be enrolled for the ILP. “About 100 government buildings have operational gensets and these total to 85 megawatts of power-supply capacity,” Cusi said.
Other energy-efficiency measures that the DOE enjoins government agencies to adhere to include setting the thermostat of air conditioners to no lower than 25°C; replacing air-conditioning units with inverter-type and switching fluorescent lamps with light-emitting diode (LED) lights.
Aside from requesting government institutions, the DOE asked nearly 70 malls nationwide to set their cooling system’s temperature to 25°C as a way to temper their huge buildings’ demand for electricity. “We, the government, have to be the best examples to our people in managing our energy consumption,” Cusi emphasized.
So far, the generation, distribution and transmission segments of the power sector seem prepared for the summer. However, only time can tell if their preparation is good enough to thwart incidents of power outage.
Image credits: Nonie Reyes