Luzon and Visayas grids were again placed under yellow alerts as of 8 a.m. yesterday as 44 power plant units were on either forced outage or de-rated displacing 2,082.2 megawatts (MW) of capacity.
Yellow alert was raised in the Luzon Grid yesterday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. and from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. as 15 power plant units and four more with de-rated capacities resulted in the unavailability of 1,532.1 MW in the region.
Yellow alert was also raised in the Visayas Grid from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. and from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. as 21 power plant units were on forced outage and four more with de-rated capacities for a total lost capacity of 550.1 MW in the region.
Yellow alerts are issued when the level of power reserve in the grid is low and power interruptions are not yet imminent.
According to the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines, the alerts were raised as available capacity in the Luzon Grid was only at 14,963 MW compared to a peak demand of 13,871 MW. Available capacity in the Visayas Grid was only 2,877 MW against a peak demand of 2,646 MW.
n a related development, the Department of Energy (DOE) said in a hearing of the House Committee on Energy yesterday efforts are underway to continue supporting clean and sustainable yet firm and stable power system in the country.
DOE Undersecretary Sharon Garin in a presentation said the agency currently has four strategy pillars to accelerate nationwide renewable energy development and stimulate investment recovery in the country.
Garin said these include acceleration of RE development with a special focus on offshore wind (OSW); smart and green transmission system to accommodate additional RE capacity expected to come online from 2024 to 2040; building of port infrastructure to support OSW and other marine-based energy resource development projects; and the voluntary early decommissioning and/or repurposing of existing coal-fired power plants.
“We have engagements with various development partners in the conduct of studies on smart and green grid plan; distribution utility franchise performance assessment; futures and capacity markets; OSW map, ports; and coal transition program investment plan among others,” Garin added.
Meanwhile, the Philippine Rural Electric Cooperatives Association (Philreca) said the simultaneous declaration of alert status in the national grid not only created interruption in delivering electricity services but also led to surging rates in areas served by electric cooperatives (EC).
In a position paper submitted by the group in the hearing yesterday, Philreca said during yellow and red alerts caused by scarce power reserves, ECs have to source power from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) which subjects them to price volatility and drastic rate increases.
Philreca said a 20- percent exposure to WESM leads to an increase of around P0.40 per kilowatt hour (kWh) or 6 percent in the generation costs.
“For member-consumer-owners with 100 kWh monthly consumption, this increase incurs additional P40, still subject for value added tax, on their next bill,” Philreca said.
To avoid exposure to WESM, the group proposed the implementation of power supply dispatch on top of the interruptible load program; the institutionalization of demand side management; the development of load forecasting activities; and the application of anti-bill shock programs.
As a way forward, Philreca said policy makers must consider harmonizing protocols in implementing manual load dropping; increasing RE power supply; expediting the approval of provisional authority of ECs to enter emergency power supply agreements; and restoring the National Power Corp.’s authority to construct and operate power plants but only to serve for ancillary services requirements.
