Luzon grid under power supply alert due to quake damage

MANILA, Philippines — The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) placed the Luzon grid under yellow and red alerts on Tuesday.

In a Twitter post, the NGCP announced that Luzon will be placed under red alert from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m as demand may outstrip available generating capacity since Monday afternoon’s magnitude 6.1 earthquake damaged several power generators — mainly in Bataan.

A “red alert” status is raised when there is a likelihood that power supply demand will outstrip available generating capacity.

A “yellow alert” is raised when “a grid’s reserve power—the difference between supply and demand—is below the required level,” the NGCP said.

Meanwhile, the NGCP will raise a yellow alert from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Luzon grid on yellow alert from 9:00AM-10:00AM and 4:00PM-10:00PM, and red alert from 10:00AM-4:00PM, 23 April 2019.

Available Capacity – 10,576MW
Peak Demand – 10,536MW

Details on the cause to be announced by the Department of Energy (DOE) later in the day.

— NGCP (@NGCP_ALERT) April 22, 2019

The available capacity of the Luzon grid is 10,576 megawatts (MW) while peak demand is at 10,536 MW, the NGCP said.

The NGCP, in an advisory, said that transmission services in Luzon were fully restored as of 4:39 a.m. with the energization of the Hermosa-Guagua line that links Bataan and Pampanga.

Aside from these two provinces, power interruptions were also reported in Pangasinan and La Union.

Quake damage

According to the Department of Energy, Monday afternoon’s earthquake caused damage to two 150-megawatt generators of SMC Global Power Corp. in Limay, Bataan.

The DOE said the facility of GNPower Ltd., which runs a 632-MW power complex in Mariveles, was also affected. /gsg