FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines— The electricity woes in Luzon may worsen as another power barge in Zambales broke down Tuesday morning.
This, after the Masinloc power plant in Zambales shut down early Tuesday, according to the Department of Energy (DOE).
DOE said the agency received an advisory from the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) that the Masinloc Unit 2 went down 7:55 a.m. Tuesday morning.
Mylene Capongcol, DOE Electric Power Industry Management Bureau director said in an interview on radio that the breakdown could potentially threaten the power reserves in Luzon.
Capongcol said the repairs might take two to three days citing the emergency shutdown was due to a boiler tube leak.
The breakdown happened a day after the Masinloc power plant went online Monday morning.
Malacañang said Tuesday that “the Luzon power situation is expected to normalize with additional power provided by the Masinloc and Pagbilao plants.”
However, Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said he has yet to ask the DOE regarding impact of the recent incident on power supply in Luzon.
On Wednesday, the NGCP issued a yellow alert notice indicating that power reserves are lower than the contingency reserve levels.
A yellow alert, according to NGCP, is a system condition where the total reserve is less than the capacity of the largest plant online.
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