Frequent outages seen in the Visayas

INSPECTION Personnel of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines inspect one of its facilities in the Visayas on April 17, days before announcing a “system disturbance” in the Visayas grid.—NATIONAL GRID CORP. OF THE PHILIPPINES PHOTO

CEBU CITY—Power consumers in the Visayas have been advised to prepare for possible rotational brownouts because the energy supply may be lower than what is needed by the six Visayan islands interconnected in the grid.

The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), in an advisory released Friday, said the Visayas grid experienced a “system disturbance” on Thursday and initially raised a “red alert” status before downgrading it to “yellow alert” by 6 p.m. of Friday.

A yellow alert, it said, means that there was a power supply deficiency and that the demand for electricity was higher than the available supply.

NGCP did not elaborate on what caused the system disturbance in the Visayas grid.

A system disruption involved the tripping of one or more elements of the grid energy system such as a generator, transmission line, or transformer, ultimately shutting down electricity access from the grid, according to the NGCP.

It said it might conduct “Manual Load Dropping,” which entailed “rotational power interruptions to maintain the integrity of the power system.”

Outlook

Rotational brownouts were temporary outages that were implemented on a rotating basis to ensure that all customers were affected equally.

In its power situation outlook for Saturday, the NGCP said the Visayas grid will have an available generating capacity of 2,277 megawatts (MW) and a system peak demand of 2,029 MW, or an operating margin of 249 MW.

The interconnected island grids of Cebu, Negros, Panay, Leyte, Samar, and Bohol compose the Visayas grid. The region accounts for 14 percent of the country’s power demand.

The total installed capacity of the different power providers in the Visayas was at 3,814 MW with a 3,333 MW dependable capacity, according to a report by the Department of Energy (DOE).

The grid has a peak demand of 2,186 MW as of 2020, the DOE said.

NGCP has the crucial role of linking power generators and distribution utilities to deliver electricity where it is most needed.

Its network of interconnected transmission towers and substations serves as the highway where electricity travels from various energy sources to the smaller thoroughfares of distribution utilities and electric cooperatives until it reaches the households.

Veco’s advisory

The Cebu-based Visayan Electric (Veco), the second largest electric utility in the country with 1.73 million customers, also issued a separate advisory on Thursday to inform the public of a high possibility of rotational brownouts.

“Visayan Electric would like to inform its customers that there is a high possibility of implementing rotational brownouts in its franchise area due to the announcement of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines of a red alert status in the Visayas grid,” it said.

Veco also advised customers to conserve energy and use electricity wisely.

“As long as NGCP says we are on red alert status, the possibility of brownouts/rotational brownouts is possible,” it said. NESTLE SEMILLA

READ: Blackout hits parts of Cebu, Bohol, Samar, Leyte