National Grid braces for high power demand on May 3

MANILA, Philippines – The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), the operator of the country’s power transmission highway, is preparing for an expected rise in electricity demand on May 3, the day of the boxing match between Filipino champion Manny Pacquiao and British challenger Ricky Hatton.

Historical data from the NGCP’s System Operations Group shows that power demand increases by as much as 100 megawatts (MW) whenever Pacquiao has a televised boxing fight.

The increase is attributed to the increase in the number of television sets switched on for the much-awaited Pacquiao fight.

NGCP noted that TV sets can consume power of between 130 to 380 watts depending on the model.

Malls, movie houses and other commercial establishments also open for business at a much earlier time to accommodate customers who want to watch the fight “live” via satellite on big screens.

The projected power demand on May 3 is 5,400 MW and the available generation capacity is about 7,000 MW or 1,600 MW more than the projected power consumption.

NGCP vice president for systems operations Carlito C. Claudio assured that the increase in demand can be handled by the “load following” plants which regulate and compensate for fluctuations in load on a daily basis.

“We are prepared for the high power demand. As a matter of fact, we attained the highest peak demand this year of 6,845 MW last April 16 without any customer experiencing load curtailment. As long as there are no unplanned outages of large generating units, we will be able to meet the system demand,” he said.

NGCP is a privately-owned utility company formed from the consortium of Monte Oro Grid Resources Corp., Calaca High Power Corp. and State Grid Corp. of China.

NGCP took over the operations of the state-owned National Transmission Corp. (Transco).