Luzon grid on yellow alert anew

MANILA, Philippines — After more than a month, the Luzon grid was placed under yellow alert again yesterday due to the forced outage of a 417-megawatt natural gas-powered plant in Batangas.

The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) said the grid was on yellow alert from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m., due to the tripping of the San Gabriel plant.

However, the alert status was lifted a few hours later after the forecast demand decreased.

As of 1:30 p.m. yesterday, the available capacity of the Luzon grid was 13,198 megawatts while peak demand was 12,028 MW, the NGCP said.

A yellow alert is raised when the operating margin is insufficient to meet the transmission grid’s contingency requirement.

One power plant has been on a forced outage since last year, eight between January and May, and six between June and this month.

Six others are running on derated capacities.

A total of 1,652.7 MW have been unavailable to the Luzon grid, the NGCP said.

Meanwhile, the Visayas and Mindanao grids remain in normal condition.

In a statement, the Department of Energy (DOE) said it was closely coordinating with the NGCP and generation companies to address the needed power demand.

“The department is also urging consumers to exercise judicious use of their electricity during this period to help manage the overall demand,” the DOE said.

Power distributor Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) said it was monitoring the situation and advising interruptible load program participants to be ready in case the condition escalates to a red alert.

“We urge the public to implement energy conservation and efficiency practices to help manage the overall demand. We will give updates as soon as needed,” Meralco spokesman Joe Zaldarriaga said.