Luzon grid on alert anew over high demand

MANILA, Philippines – The Luzon grid was placed on alert anew yesterday over high demand even as two power plants that tripped off on Monday remained offline.

The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) raised the yellow alert from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. “due to insufficient contingency reserves brought about by an adjusted higher demand forecast.”

The grid operator said available capacity was projected at 9,921 megawatts (MW) while peak demand was expected at 9,115 MW.

In a text message, Mylene Capongcol, Department of Energy director, said the Quezon Power Philippines Ltd. (QPPL) and a unit of the Sual coal-fired power plant had not been restored.

QPPL owns and operates the 460-MW coal-fired power plant in Mauban, Quezon while the San Miguel Group operates the 647-MW Sual coal-fired plant in Pangasinan.

Larry Fernandez, Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) senior vice president and head of utility economics, said the demand forecast was raised yesterday afternoon.

“Meralco will be advising Interruptible Load Program participants to prepare and be on standby in case manual load dropping needs to be implemented,” spokesperson Joe Zaldarriaga said in a text message.