Yellow alert raised on Luzon grid

MANILA, Philippines — The Luzon grid was placed under yellow alert yesterday after several power plants went on forced outages and operated on derated capacities.

Grid operator National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) said the alert was raised from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Among the factors that contributed to the raising of the alert were the tripping of the Sual U2 and the emergency shutdown of the GNPD U2 due to a leak in its boiler tube.

As of 1 p.m. yesterday, the available capacity of the grid was 12,969 megawatts while peak demand was 11,768 MW.

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

Seven power plants have been on forced outages since January to May this year, 10 between June and July, and five are running on derated capacities.

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

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

Following the alert notice, power distributor Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) advised its interruptible load program participants to prepare in case the situation escalates to a red alert.

“We remind the public to practice energy conservation and efficiency measures, to help manage the overall demand,” Joe Zaldarriaga, Meralco vice president and head of corporate communications said.