The country’s power supply reserves level worsened as red and yellow alerts were declared in all three major island grids in the country yesterday.
Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao power grids were placed under red and yellow alerts as of 8 a.m. yesterday as 64 power plant units were on either forced outage or de-rated with a total unavailable capacity of 3,135.88 megawatts (MW).
Power alert levels were first raised in the Luzon and Visayas grids on April 16 to 20. No alert levels were raised on April 21 and 22 but were hoisted again in Luzon and Visayas from April 23 to 24.
The Mindanao grid was placed under a power alert level for the first time yesterday.
Red alert was raised in the Luzon Grid yesterday from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. while yellow alert was raised from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. and from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m.
This is because 20 power plant units and two more with de-rated capacities resulted in the unavailability of 1,840.3 MW in the region.
Red alert was raised in the Visayas Grid from 12 noon to 5 p.m. and from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Yellow alert was hoisted from 10 a.m. to 12 noon, 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. to 9 p.m.
In the Visayas Grid, 20 power plant units were on forced outage and eight more with de-rated capacities for a total lost capacity of 621.6 MW in the region.
Yellow alert was raised in the Mindanao Grid from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. as nine power plant units were on forced outage and five more with de-rated capacities for a total lost capacity of 673.98 MW in the region.
Yellow alerts are issued when the level of power reserve in the grid is low while red alerts are declared when actual power supply against demand is insufficient and power interruptions are imminent.
According to the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), the alerts were raised as available capacity in the Luzon Grid was at 14,241 MW compared to a peak demand of 13,643 MW.
Available capacity in the Visayas Grid was 2,462 MW against a peak demand of 2,525 MW.
Available capacity in the Mindanao Grid was at 2,761 MW amid a peak demand of 2,614 MW.
NGCP added Luzon Grid recorded its highest peak demand for 2024 yesterday at 2:54 p.m. at 14,016 MW, surpassing the previous highest peak of 13,864 MW recorded at 2:47 p.m. on Tuesday.
Yesterday’s recorded peak demand for the Luzon Grid is also 0.7 percent or 99 MW higher than the projected peak demand of 13,917 MW.
Meanwhile, Sen. Francis Escudero yesterday said generation companies (gencos) should be held accountable for the unscheduled power interruptions amid the high demand of electricity during the summer season.
“They should be held accountable for any unreasonable or unjustified outage brough about by negligence, incompetence, or their own fault,” Escudero said.
He said the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) must enforce stricter oversight on power generation companies with their scheduled outages.
He said the gencos should be compelled to provide transparent explanations and justifications for any unplanned outages.
“The DOE and ERC should rein in the gencos to stay true to their scheduled outages and should be required to explain and justify the reasons behind these forced outages…No amount of ancilliary or standby power can guarantee sufficient supply nor be able to stabilize the grid if this forced outages continue to persist unchecked,” he said.
Sen. Joseph Victor Ejercito said the Marcos administration has to focus on providing power supply in the country to attract foreign investors.
Ejercito called for a review of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 which sought to restructure the electric power industry by privatizing the generation, transmission, distribution, and supply of the power sector.
In a related development, technology group Wärtsilä called for more flexibility in power systems in the Philippines due to the continued growth of renewable energy (RE) capacities in the grid.
Kari Punnonen, Wärtsilä energy business director for Australasia, said the Philippines has transitioned from requiring financial support to RE investments to a point where inflexible assets such as oil, coal, combined-cycle gas turbines and nuclear technologies “are no longer viable without political support.”
“This presents us with a unique opportunity: to add more renewable energy than ever before on to our grids, build the right level and right type of flexibility into our power systems and phase out inflexible assets while converting to sustainable fuels. Ultimately this will ensure a transition that fully phases out fossil fuels and is affordable, low carbon and resilient,” Punnonen added. With Raymond Africa
