OP intervention sought to avoid power shortage

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The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) sought the help of the Office of the President (OP) in implementing demand side interventions that will avoid possible power supply shortages during the summer months and the election week.

In a letter addressed to the OP and other agencies, NGCP said the declaration of special non-working holiday during the actual election and counting days must be considered to help the power supply situation.

Historically, the interruptible load program (ILP) and consumer education were the only demand side management schemes implemented by the government to lower the country’s need for electricity during the summer months.

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Under 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. The fuel they will use in running their own power source are also paid by consumers.

NGCP’s letter dated Jan. 31, 2022 and signed by both Anthony Almeda, NGCP president and chief executive officer and Robert Coyiuto Jr., NGCP vice chairman of the board, also said unforced outages of power plants must also be factored in to improve the accuracy of projected scenarios during the summer months.

NGCP said as early as last month, several generating units have extended their maintenance shutdowns while others derated operations and decreased their committed generation that had affected the power outlook.

The country’s system operator of transmission lines also said movement in the maintenance schedules and generation outputs led to the unexpected declaration of yellow alert status over the Luzon grid last January 10 and 11.

Last year, unplanned outages in the Luzon grid hit a maximum of 4,956.50 megawatts (MW), a minimum of 520 MW and an average of 2,040.74 MW.

Visayas recorded a maximum unplanned outage of 1,127.50 MW, minimum of 33.15 MW and an average of 303.26 MW while Mindanao had a maximum unplanned outage last year at 634.24 MW, minimum of 25.20 MW which brings in an average of 241.95 MW.

“Considering the increasing regularity and severity of unplanned maintenance shutdowns by power plants, it is imperative to include historical data on shutdowns outside the grid operating and maintenance program (GOMP). It may be recalled that on May 31 and June 1 2021, rotating power interruptions were declared when almost 4,000 MW of energy became unavailable to the Luzon power system because of unscheduled maintenance shutdowns and derated operations,” the letter read.

The GOMP is a consolidated preventive maintenance schedule of power plants that considers the needed power supply to meet projected demand in the three major island grids.

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