Rotational power interruptions in the Luzon Grid may continue until June 7, according to the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP).
This after power outages were experienced in parts of Manila Electric Co.’s (Meralco) franchise area as well as in the localities of Baguio, Nueva Ecija, Quezon Province, Sorsogon, Isabela, Camarines Sur, Ilocos Norte, Pampanga, Batangas, Albay, Pangasinan, Bataan, La Union, Laguna, Cagayan and Camarines Norte.
Depending on the area, outages can last for up to two hours.
NGCP spokesperson Cynthia Alabanza said the level of available power continues to be low due to the prolonged maintenance outages of several power plants as well as the emergency shutdowns and capacity deratings.
NGCP said the grid will still be under yellow alert level over the weekend.
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.
“Based on our latest projections, one of the power plants that went on outage may be back by June 8. That big plant was supposed to be back last Monday but they assessed that they will need more time to repair the problem. On a daily basis, we are closely coordinating with power plants and this is our best scenario so far,” said Reynaldo Abadilla, NGCP head of Luzon system operations.
According to the Department of Energy, the second unit of GN Power Mariveles Energy Center in Bataan with a 345 MW capacity suffered a boiler tube leak but is set to return next week
The Department of Energy (DOE) said yellow and red alerts were issued yesterday in Luzon as total projected available capacity was at 11,408 megawatts (MW) against a projected system peak demand of 11,593 MW.
The DOE said total planned outage was at 435 MW while the total unplanned outage reached 1,792 MW while total derating hit 1,837 MW for a total of 4,064 MW of power that became unavailable in the grid.
Senate committee on energy chairman Sherwin Gatchalian urged the DOE to explain the power shortage experienced in Luzon despite its earlier assurance of an uninterrupted power supply in the coming days.
“The country cannot afford, even for a few minutes, any power interruption as this could have significant implications for vaccine storage. The potency of the vaccines at room temperature may only be maintained for a limited period of time, therefore, any prolonged power outage could cause its spoilage,” Gatchalian said.
Gatchalian said he called for a committee hearing last April where the DOE made sure there is enough power supply in the country especially during the summer season when the government’s vaccination program is at full steam.
“The problem here now is that they point to different factors. I listened to the press conference (last Monday) and that the generators were to be blamed. If you ask the generators, they will point to COVID. So, they keep on pointing to something else,” the senator said.
The Energy Regulatory Commission said isa “looking into these outages and will take the necessary actions in accordance with existing laws and rules on the matter.” – With Raymond Africa
