The Luzon Grid returned to normal operations yesterday after being placed on red alert last Monday when 4,509 megawatts (MW) of electricity became unavailable, according to the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP).
NGCP said as of yesterday, available capacity in the Luzon Grid was at 12,987 MW against a peak demand of 10,930 MW.
The Philippine Independent Power Producers Association (PIPPA) said Monday’s incident was not a coordinated act among power generators.
Anne Estorco-Montelibano, PIPPA executive director and president, said in a radio interview the incident does not automatically mean power rates will shoot up as final electricity bills are still governed by market forces.
Montelibano said some of the plants that experienced forced outages were only sidelined due to a line trip incident.
She said on Sunday, a power line of the NGCP had tripped and forced some power plants, particularly the Sual and Masinloc coal plants, to become unavailable.
Montelibano said other power plants experienced technical issues.
She said an investigation should be done to determine the cause of the incident.
Montelibano said based on latest information provided to her, Sual unit 2 with a 647 MW capacity as well as Masinloc with a total capacity of 679 MW already came back online.
Cynthia Alabanza, NGCP spokesperson, said at the Laging Handa public briefing yesterday the power line that tripped was restored as early as noontime on Sunday.
Alabanza said some affected power plants due to the line trip were not able to go back online on the same day and were only fully restored in the afternoon of Monday.
The Department of Energy is yet to give updates on the investigation of the incident but said Assistant Secretary Mario Marasigan will represent the agency in a scheduled Senate hearing today, September 14.
