Mindanao grid placed on yellow alert

MANILA, Philippines —  The Mindanao power grid was placed on yellow alert yesterday alongside the Luzon and Visayas grids due to outages of several power plants. 

This is the first time this year that the Mindanao grid has been placed on alert as the available capacity is 2,761 megawatts amid peak demand of 2,614 MW due to forced outages of nine power plants, according to the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines. 

NGCP announced in the afternoon that the yellow alert in the Mindanao grid had been lifted. 

The Luzon grid was placed on red and yellow alert with an available capacity of 14,249 MW while peak demand stood at 13,475 MW. 

The Visayas grid was also placed on red and yellow alert as available capacity was at 2,462 MW while peak demand stood at 2,525 MW. 

In an afternoon update, NGCP said the highest Luzon grid peak load for the year is 14,016 MW, which exceeded Tuesday’s record. 

Department of Energy (DOE) Assistant Secretary Mario Marasigan said the peak demand for the Luzon grid last Tuesday was recorded at its highest for the year.

“We reached 13,864 MW, while our target is 13,000 or the forecasted 13,817,” Marasigan said.

“This may be the reason why our (power) supply is thinning out, especially from our reserve,” he added.

Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) asked for the committed de-loading capacities of big-load customers under the Interruptible Load Program to help ease the demand.

“If necessary, we are ready to implement MLD (manual load dropping) as part of our responsibility to manage the system,” Meralco said in a statement. 

The NGCP issues a red alert when the operating margin is insufficient to meet the transmission grid’s contingency requirement.

A yellow alert is raised when the power supply is not sufficient to meet consumer demand and the transmission grid’s regulating requirement, according to the NGCP.

Monitor power plants

Sen. Francis Escudero yesterday urged the DOE and the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to monitor power generation companies (gencos) amid the red and yellow alert status in Luzon and the Visayas due to unscheduled power plant shutdowns.

Escudero said these power plants should justify unplanned outages which contributed to the thin power supply during the summer season.

“The DOE and ERC should rein in the gencos to stay true to their scheduled outages and should be required to explain and justify the reasons behind these forced outages,” the senator said. 

The gencos should be held accountable for contributing to the yellow and red alert status imposed by the NGCP, Escudero said.

“No amount of ancillary or standby power can guarantee sufficient supply nor be able to stabilize the grid if these forced outages continue to persist unchecked,” he added. 

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian urged DOE to investigate the forced power plant outages, as well as power reserves that NGCP should have contracted as a buffer in case of low supply.

Gatchalian said he would file a resolution to investigate the “government’s action – or the lack of it – in light of the red alerts and what will be the forecast considering that El Niño has created a surge in temperatures.”

“Historically, the month of May is three percent to five percent higher in terms of demand. That means we will experience more brownouts if power plants will not go online,” Gatchalian said.- Marc Jayson Cayabyab