Meralco prepares for rotating brownouts due to thinning power supply

Meralco office.
Inquirer file photo / EDWIN BACASMAS

MANILA, Philippines — The Manila Electric Company (Meralco) is ready to implement rotating brownouts should the need arise after Luzon Grid’s “yellow” and “red” alert status on Monday because of thinning power supply.

The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) placed the Luzon Grid under “yellow” and “red” alert status on Monday morning and afternoon, respectively, after 3,627 megawatts were lost from the grid due to forced outages and derailed capacities of power plants.

To cope with the supply shortage, Meralco said it has 260 megawatts available.

In the meantime, their big-load customers have committed to using their generators to reduce demand on the power grid.

“Meralco already advised Interruptible Load Program (ILP) participants following NGCP’s declaration of Yellow and Red alerts today. As of noon, we have more than 260 MW committed de-loading capacity under the ILP,” it said in a statement.

Meralco is still waiting for more details from NGCP, saying it is ready to implement rotational power interruptions if needed. For now, no rotational brownout has been implemented.

“We are ready in the event the implementation of manual load dropping (MLD) or rotating power interruptions will be needed as part of our responsibility to manage the system,” it said.

The yellow alert status is raised when a power grid’s power reserve, the difference between supply and demand, is below the required level, according to NGCP.

Meanwhile, a red alert status is hoisted when it is likely that demand will outstrip available generating capacity.

The NGCP said the available capacity was estimated at 10,727 megawatts, while the peak demand is at 10,585 megawatts.

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