MANILA, Philippines — Senator Sherwin Gatchalian on Wednesday said the country would have enough power supply until June, or the start of the rainy season, if there are no unscheduled power plant breakdowns.
Gatchalian, who chairs the Senate committee on energy, said this amid the declarations of “yellow alerts” on energy supply in Luzon in the past few days.
He said the yellow alerts were caused by the unscheduled breakdowns of power plants.
“Looking at the data, wala tayong problema kung walang plantang masisira in the next three months. Kung susundan nila yung maintenance schedule nila, wala tayong magiging problema,” Gatchalian told reporters in an interview.
(Looking at the data, we are not going to have problems if power plants will not breakdown in the next three months. If they follow their maintenance schedule, we don’t see any problem.)
“Ngayon nagkakaroon tayo ng ganitong yellow alert kung mayroong mga plantang biglang pumapalya, hindi kasama sa shedule na maintenance,” he added.
(We are getting these yellow alerts now because there are breakdowns that are not part of the scheduled maintenance.)
He also pointed out that a yellow alert means that there is still power supply, but it is lower due to reduced desired energy reserve.
The senator also noted that there are many additional power plants in the country now, which would help provide enough power supply until June.
“Maraming additional power plant, both renewable and traditional fuel. Dito lang tayo sa Luzon na may problema sa hydro powerplant because of El Niño,” Gatchalian said.
(We have additional power plants, both renewable and traditional fuel. We only have problems in the hydropower plant in Luzon because of El Niño.)
“But kahit pa bumaba pa yung output ng hydro-power plant natin, ‘wag lang magkakaroon ng unscheduled breakdown, magiging okay tayo until tag-ulan this coming June,” he added.
(But even if the output of the hydropower plant is reduced, we will have enough power supply until June if there are no unscheduled breakdowns.)
Gatchalian then urged the management of power plants to follow the maintenance schedule and conduct preventive maintenance to avoid unscheduled breakdowns.
He also called on the Department of Energy and other agencies concerned to monitor the schedule of maintenance closely. /ee
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