Luzon power grid again under yellow alert

MANILA, Philippines — The Luzon power grid was again placed under yellow alert yesterday and for a longer period after another plant shut down.

The yellow alert lasted three hours from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., according to grid operator National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP).

The net operating margin was at 412 megawatts with a lower supply at 12,251 MW and an estimated demand reaching 11,385 MW, the NGCP said.

Adding to the list of power plants that went on forced outages was the 460-MW coal plant of the Quezon Power Philippines Limited Co.

The other plants were the 150-MW Unit 1 and 50-MW Units 3 and 4 of the Southwest Luzon Power Generation Corp., the 316-MW Units 1 and 2 of the GNPower Mariveles Energy Center Ltd. Co. and the 300-MW Unit 2 of the SEM-CalacaPower Corp.

Due to plant shutdown, the total unplanned unavailable energy of the Luzon power grid reached 1,592 MW.

Earlier, the Institute of Climate and Sustainable Cities (ICSC) – a climate and energy policy group based in Manila – said the power grid would continue to have tight supply.

This may lead to power interruptions if coal plants are unreliable and non-compliant with outage schedules, the ICSC said.

The NGCP earlier warned that a red alert is likely, which could lead to rotating power interruptions in Luzon during summer.