A yellow alert was raised in the Luzon Grid yesterday after the tripping of two modules of the San Lorenzo natural gas power plant with a total capacity of 534 megawatts (MW).
Yellow alerts are issued when the level of power reserve in the grid is low.
According to the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), the alert was raised from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. yesterday as available capacity was only at 12,705 MW compared to a peak demand of 12,222 MW.
The Department of Energy (DOE) said interruptions were reported to have occurred at NGCP and Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) feeders following the tripping of San Lorenzo power plant but were immediately restored at 11:06 a.m. for Meralco customers and at 11:04 a.m. for NGCP customers.
Meralco said the service interruption affected approximately 500,000 customers in portions of Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, Rizal and Quezon but was fully restored after eight minutes.
The DOE said it is coordinating with the operator of the San Lorenzo power plant and other stakeholders on the cause of the tripping.
Meralco added it also implemented its Interruptible Load Program (ILP) yesterday. No details were provided.
Under the ILP, customers with large electricity consumption are encouraged to run their own generator sets whenever supply of electricity in the grid is short in exchange for monetary incentives.
