Luzon grid on red alert over low supply

MANILA, Philippines – The Luzon grid was placed on red alert yesterday after a transmission line tripped and cut supply from three power plants.

The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) said the red alert status was raised from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. “due to zero ancillary services capacity brought about by insufficient power supply from generating plants.”

The Batangas-Makban 230-kiloVolt Line 1 tripped at 12:46 p.m., isolating power plants with a combined capacity of 1,030 megawatts, the grid operator said.

The San Lorenzo, Avion and San Gabriel plants in Batangas were affected, Larry Fernandez, Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) senior vice president and head of utility economics, said in a text message.

Meralco implemented manual load dropping or rotating power interruptions within its franchise from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., Meralco spokesman Joe Zaldarriaga said in another text message.

Zaldarriaga said a 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. power interruption was implemented in Cabuyao, Calamba, Los Baños and Sta. Rosa in Laguna.

A  power outage from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. was experienced in Sto. Tomas, Batangas; Amadeo, Bacoor, Carmona, Dasmariñas, Gen. M. Alvarez, General Trias, Imus, Indang, Silang and Tagaytay City in Cavite; Alaminos, Cabuyao, Calamba and San Pedro in Laguna as well as in Caloocan, Makati, Manila, Pasay, Pasig, Quezon City and Valenzuela.

Meralco said a 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.  power outage was experienced in Balagtas, Bocaue, Bulakan, Guiguinto, Malolos, Marilao, Pandi, Plaridel, San Jose Del Monte, San Miguel and Santa Maria in Bulacan; Carmona, Gen. M. Alvarez and Silang in Cavite; Biñan, Liliw, Magdalena, Majayjay, Nagcarlan, Rizal, San Pablo City, San Pedro and Sta. Rosa in Laguna; portions of Quezon City and Cainta and Taytay in Rizal.