There will be no red alert warnings in Luzon this year but the grid is expected to be placed under yellow alert anytime from March to November this year.
On Monday, the Department of Energy (DOE) released an updated power outlook for Luzon, which could experience yellow alert warnings in the week of March 5 to 11, March 19 to 25, April 16 to 22, all weeks of May, June 1 to June 10, August 27 to September 2, October 15 to 21, and from November 19 to 25.
A yellow alert notice means that there is insufficient operating power reserve in the grid.
“Factoring in the projected forced outage ranging form 500-600 megawatts [MW] for the entire year along with the operation of existing power plants and committed power plants, the Luzon grid is projected to have zero red alert and 12 yellow alerts,” based on the DOE’s 2023 Luzon power outlook that was presented by DOE officials on Monday.
The “12 yellow alerts” refer to 12 weeks between March and November that were identified by the DOE.
DOE Undersecretary Rowena Cristina Guevara said during a news conference that there are 1,074.318MW of committed power generation capacity that will be injected into the Luzon grid this year.
These include 450MW that will come from coal power projects, 11.04MW from oil-based power plants, 46MW from geothermal projects, 7.4MW from biomass, 31.36MW from hydro, over 418.51 MW from solar, and 110MW from wind power projects.
The Luzon grid is expecting to reach a peak demand of 13,125MW this year that could occur in the last week of May.
Guevara shared another possible scenario in which the number of projected yellow alerts could go down to just one from 12 if diesel power plants at 420MW are operated. “But running diesel power plants is very expensive and will mean increase in cost per kilowatt hour. Thus, we suggest demand side-management,” she said.
According to DOE Secretary Raphael Lotilla, demand side management (DSM) plays a key role in addressing potential power shortages in the country.
“We have to take a look at our demand side management which is a necessary element in managing our entire power supply. We should not view demand side management as a temporary measure. Instead, this should be a natural element or embedded already in our entire management system. If we have a controlled consumption of electricity, we would no longer need to run the diesel plants,” said Lotilla.
According to the DOE, the DSM programs for various sector focuses on the utilization of efficient equipment and appliances and the promotion and implementation of policies and programs that best fit each industry.
For the commercial sector, the utilization of energy-efficient equipment such as inverter-type air conditioners and LED lightings is being promoted.
Further, the promotion of the energy-labeling program will ensure informed decisions of households regarding the energy performance and efficiency of all household appliances.