INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines – The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) issued a red alert status in the Luzon grid on Friday amid a series of brownouts in the afternoon.
In a statement on their website, NGCP said a red alert status, which means there is an insufficient power supply, was caused by the “unexpected nature of the unplanned outages of certain power plants.”
It said during the peak hours of 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., the capacity of the grid was at 8,139 megawatts when the demand was at 8,403 MW, causing a shortfall of 264 MW.
“The unavailability and/or the reduced capability of certain power plants led to this situation where contingency reserve is zero because of a generation deficiency,” the NGCP said.
The Manila Electric Company (Meralco) on Friday said the rotating brownouts affected portions of Manila, Quezon City, Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas and Marilao, Bulacan.
A television report said the power deficiency was caused by emergency shutdown in the Pagbilao power plant in Quezon.
Meanwhile, in a text message to Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. made available to the media, Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla said the brownout affected 2 percent of customers or 84,000 consumers, who were mostly household users.
Petilla said the areas affected were Sampaloc, Santa Cruz, Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas, as well as Marilao, Meycauayan, and San Jose Del Monte in Bulacan.
RELATED STORY