MANILA, Philippines — The Luzon grid was placed on red alert anew yesterday as more plants went on unplanned shutdown.
The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) raised the alert from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. and from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. The alert means there is severe power deficiency.
A yellow alert was raised from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m., 11 a.m. to 12 p.m., 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. It means there are not enough reserves to cover the largest running generating unit at the time, but does not necessarily lead to power outages.
The NGCP said available capacity was at 11,054 megawatts while peak demand was projected to reach 11,046 MW.
In a text message, Redentor Delola, Department of Energy assistant secretary, said GN Power 2, which was affected when a magnitude 6.1 quake struck, has yet to resume operations.
Delola said the plant was supposed to resume operations on Thursday, but failed to synchronize to the grid.
He said the 382-MW Pagbilao Unit 1 of Team Energy Corp. also tripped due to an excessive water leak. The plant was estimated to go online on Monday.
Meanwhile, the 300-MW Calaca Unit 2 of SEM-Calaca Power Corp., which went on unplanned shutdown on April 28, is expected to resume operations today.
Delola said several hydropower plants are also operating on a derated capacity due to low water levels.
Despite the red alert status, no manual load dropping or rotational power outages were implemented, particularly in the franchise areas of the Manila Electric Co.
The NGCP lifted the red alert notice at around 4:10 p.m.