Power outage hits parts of Luzon

MANILA, Philippines — Parts of Luzon experienced power interruption after a major power plant tripped yesterday morning.

In an advisory posted on its social media accounts, Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) said power supply was affected by a temporary system imbalance due to a sudden plant outage.

The power outage lasted for 10 to 15 minutes. Electricity was restored at about 10:30 a.m.

Meralco said customers in parts of Manila, Quezon City and Pasig in Metro Manila as well as Bulacan, Cavite, Quezon and Laguna were affected.

“The plant tripping triggered the automatic load dropping scheme, affecting portions of Meralco’s customers,” Meralco vice president and head of utility economics department Lawrence Fernandez said in a text message.

The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines said the 668-megawatt Unit 1 of GNPower Dinginin Ltd. Co. tripped.

Aboitiz Power Corp. president and chief executive officer Emmanuel Rubio said the power plant tripped due to a “minor relay concern.”

“So far, it’s just a faulty sensor. We can go back as soon as we replace the sensor, but we will take advantage of the situation to make the necessary adjustments in other areas,” Rubio said.

Meanwhile, simulations done by the Department of Energy in January showed possible red and yellow alert warnings between May 16 to 23, with a peak demand of 12,387 MW.

A red alert status is issued when power supply is insufficient to meet consumer demand and the transmission grid’s regulating requirement.

A yellow alert means there are not enough reserves to cover the largest running generating unit at the time but does not necessarily lead to power outages.