Luzon power outages start
MANILA, Philippines—Rotating power interruptions temporarily hit portions of the Luzon grid on Friday, including parts of the Manila Electric Co.’s (Meralco) franchise area, due to a drop in energy supply.
The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) said that since power supply has been tight all summer, the drop in power supply in “certain plants” meant there was not enough electricity to meet consumers’ power demands.
Unit 1 of the 700-megawatt Pagbilao coal power plant went on emergency shutdown at 2:28 p.m. amid tight power supply. Shortly afterward, Meralco announced on social media a “tentative one-hour rotating brownout” affecting portions of Manila, Quezon City, Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas and Marilao, Bulacan province, “due to a power supply deficiency.”
Senior vice president for customer retail services and corporate communications Alfredo S. Panlilio, in a text message, said Metro Manila is on “red alert” and that the supply deficiency may last until around 5 p.m. Power in affected areas was restored at 4:58 p.m.
“ILP (Interruptible Load Program) is being triggered,” Panlilio said. ILP is a backup power plan where operators of huge power users such as malls, condominiums, hotels and even factories are asked to use their own generation sets to ease demand from the grid.
According to Pagbilao operator TeaM Energy Corp., Pagbilao Unit 1 went on emergency shutdown at 2:28 p.m. due to main turbine governor valve No. 2 mechanical failure. It is estimated to be back online between five to six days, the company said.
Article continues after this advertisementDepartment of Energy (DOE) director for the electric power industry management bureau Mylene C. Capongcol said the power situation is expected to ease today as power demand is normally lower during weekends.
Article continues after this advertisementShe said Unit 2 of the 1,200-MW Sual coal plant in Pangasinan province, also operated by TeaM Energy, is set to go back online today. The plant had been on shutdown since May 14.
Early yesterday evening, grid operator NGCP said in a statement that it had notified its Luzon grid customers of the “red alert” status due to insufficient power supply.
“During the peak hours of 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., the system indicates that available capacity is at 8,139 MW while demand is at 8,403 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,” NGCP said.
Rotating brownouts in Luzon were expected, NGCP said, because of generation-related deficiency.
“The specific affected areas and the duration and schedule of brownouts per area will be determined by the local distribution utility,” the transmission superhighway operator said.
NGCP said it is closely monitoring the situation and continues to be in close coordination with the DOE to ensure that all the capacities available to the grid are dispatched efficiently.
The Sy-led company said it does not control power supply but, during periods of generation deficiency, it does its best to mitigate the situation by implementing the grid-wide power load curtailment to maintain the grid’s security and reliability.
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