NGCP LIFTS RED ALERT NOTICE: No rotationalpower outages

Cebu, Philippines —  Power consumers can now heave a sigh of relief after the Visayan Electric has recalled the notice it issued on Thursday warning the public of a possible rotational brownouts due to unstable load from the Visayas grid.

On Thursday, National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) issued a red alert notice prompting the power distribution utility to also issue a warning to its consumers.

“A Red Alert status indicates that the supply-demand balance in the grid has further deteriorated and signals the possibility of rotational brownouts,” Visayan Electric’s notice reads.

Rotational brownouts mean temporary power outages that are implemented on a rotating basis to ensure that all customers in the franchise area are affected equally.

NGCP said that a system disturbance affected the Visayas grid on April 27. The transmission company, however, did not explain what caused the system disturbance. NGCP only indicated a yellow alert from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Thursday which was upgraded to red alert from 6 p.m. to 12 midnight.

“A yellow alert is issued when the operating margin is insufficient to meet the transmission grid’s regulating and contingency requirement,” it explained.

According to NGCP, the situation may force them to implement Manual Load Dropping (MLD) or rotational power interruptions to maintain the integrity of the power system. However, before the Visayan Electric could start implementing the rotational brownouts the Visayas grid was stabilized at 10:51 p.m. on Thursday.

“All loads affected by the Manual Load Dropping (MLD) in the Visayas grid have been restored,” NGCP said. The NGCP also lifted the yellow alert for the Visayas grid.

The last rotational brownout experienced in Metro Cebu was in 2017 following a magnitude 6.5 earthquake in Leyte that affected the NGCP transmission assets and other related facilities in the Visayas.

NGCP, however, could not give an assurance that the stable power condition will continue amid the present demand for power due to the extreme heat. According to NGCP, they could only give an overview of the current supply and demand situation.

As the transmission service provider, NGCP can only give an overview of the current supply and demand situation, and endeavor to dispatch any and all available grid resources. It cannot intervene on matters concerning power generation,” said Michael Ligalig, NGCP-Visayas spokesperson.

On the other hand, Visayan Electric has urged its customers to conserve energy and to use electricity wisely during this time.

Visayan Electric’s Reputation Enhancement head, Quennie Sanchez-Bronce, explained that they issued the notice after NGCP’s yellow and red alert warnings.

“When we say possible, pwede dili…Depende sa actions sa NGCP...Maayo na lang na wala gyud ta naka dayon og palong bisan naa silay red alert, wala ta naka implement og rotational brownout,” Sanchez said.

However, Sanchez said everyone should not be complacent, especially during these days where the weather is extremely hot, because the high demand for power may also affect the supply.

“Dili ta magkampante kay ting init…Grabe ang demand sa kuryente, misaka pag-ayo ang kunsumo sa mga tawo,” Bronce said.

According to her, the power demand last April 27 was at 614 megawatts, breaking the peak demand in 2019.

“Makita ang demand sa atong monitoring, 614 megawatts gahapon (Thursday)…mas taas na siya sa peak demand sa 2019…Pre-pandemic–2019, peak demand 601 megawatts,” added Bronce.

Present demand is higher than projected but also expected with the present dry season and the coming El Nino.

“Pirti diay gyung inita…40 heat index…and 40 degree celsius until next week plus El Nino…

So magkataas pa gyud ni’ng atong demand…Kung motaas atong demand, unya moubos atong power reserves, diha magka-problema, magsugod ang mga yellow alerts, ug red alerts,” Bronce explained.

She advised all consumers to conserve energy.

“Mangita ta’g laing lugar na maka conserve og kuryente…Sama sa mga wala nato gamita nga suga, ato gyud nang pagngon, wa gamita na mga appliances kanang atong mga tv na naka standby modes…Mangita ta’g laing paagi na maka save ta sa atong kuryente para dili ta makurat sa atong bill,” she said. (Cebu News)