THE Department of Energy (DOE) yesterday called on the consumers in Luzon to minimize use of electricity following the substantial decrease of available power supply in the island amid the typhoon.
This developed as the Luzon Grid was again placed under yellow and red alerts as of 1:30 p.m. yesterday as 23 power plant units were on either forced outage or de-rated with a total unavailable capacity of 4,497.3 megawatts (MW) mainly due to the effects of typhoon Aghon.
Meanwhile, oil prices across all products are up.
In a virtual press conference, DOE Secretary Raphael Lotilla encouraged everyone to conserve energy to minimize the dispatch of more expensive oil-based power plants.
Lotilla also encouraged commercial industrial consumers to participate in the interruptible load program as he said the oil-based power plants have been utilized as temporary power source to Luzon grid in the absence of the hydro power plants.
Lotilla said the 1200 MW Ilihan Powerplant was shut down last May 25 due to its disconnection and relocation along with the Pagbilao units 1 and 2 (with a total capacity of 764MW) and unit 3 with a capacity of 420MW.
The Masinloc 3, with a capacity of 335MW, was also shut down along with the San Buenaventura with a capacity of 455MW. The Botocan, with a capacity of 20.8MW, also went on outage due to the typhoon last May 26.
Yellow alert was raised in the Luzon Grid yesterday from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m., 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. and from 10 p.m. to 12 a.m. of May 28.
Meanwhile, red alert was raised in the Luzon Grid from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. and from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.
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, the alerts were raised as available capacity in the Luzon Grid was only 11,810 MW against a peak demand of 11,785 MW
The Energy Regulatory Commission, it ordered the suspension of the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market in Luzon, effective 1:05 p.m. yesterday, due to insufficient generation capacity in the grid.
The move is meant to protect customers from a sudden spike in the cost of power in the spot market.
On fuel, Seaoil and Caltex increased per liter prices by P0.40 of both gasoline and diesel as well as kerosene by P0.30.
Clean Fuel and Jetti adjusted per liter prices upward by P0.40 of both gasoline and kerosene.
Today’s fuel price movements were mainly caused by the effects of higher trading prices at the Mean of Platts Singapore last week.
Data from the DOE as of May 21 showed Manila price per liter of gasoline (RON91) stood at P63.50, diesel at P59.05 and kerosene at P72.71.
DOE data also showed year-to-date adjustments as of the same date stood at a total net increase of P7.15 per liter for gasoline and P4.45 per liter for diesel but a net decrease of P1.35 per liter for kerosene.
Reuters reported that as of Friday last week, Brent crude July contract price rose by 76 cents to $82.12 a barrel as US West Texas Intermediate crude futures went up 85 cents to $77.72 per barrel.
