Luzon Blackouts likely in April
Credit to Author: Jordeene B. Lagare| Date: Fri, 21 Feb 2020 16:16:00 +0000
Power blackouts could hit the Luzon grid this summer because of the thin power supply and high electricity demand, according to the Department of Energy (DoE).
Even as outages loom, the Energy department and industry stakeholders gave assurances of concerted efforts to ensure a stable electricity supply throughout the year, especially during the dry season.
“Nakita po ito ng electricity participants at ng Department of Energy last November pa ng 2019 (Electricity participants and the Department of Energy first projected power supply shortage as early as November 2019),” Energy Undersecretary Felix William Fuentebella said in a press briefing.
While there is enough power at present, the agency said yellow and/or red alerts might be raised, depending on the volume of forced outages or sudden and the breakdowns of power plants. A red alert is called when a grid shuts down because there is no power running through it.
A yellow alert is declared when the reserve power is lower than the capacity of the biggest plant.
The DoE estimates peak demand for Luzon this year hitting 12,285 megawatts (MW), 256 MW more than the projected generation. That means a red alert situation could develop in the Luzon grid between April 18 and 22.
The peak demand in the Visayas is expected to be 2,519 MW and 2,278 MW for Mindanao.
During the briefing, DoE Electric Power Industry Management Bureau Director Mario Marasigan discussed measures in place to prevent or minimize power blackouts during the summer.
Marasigan said under a department circular, power plants and transmission facilities must schedule maintenance shutdowns either before or after summer period.
The schedules of operating and maintenance program of power plants and transmission facilities must be posted in the DoE’s website, he said.
Another measure, the Interruptible Load Program, gives distribution utilities such as Meralco and electric cooperatives implementing the Interruptible Load Program the option to convince high-load consumers to voluntarily reduce their electricity demand and switch to back-up generator sets.
The program may be activated once the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) declares a Red Alert.
For its part, the NGCP stressed the need for a comprehensive, far-reaching power development plan that considers generation technology, facility location and dispatch hierarchy.
“In a situation where supply is thin, even NGCP is hard-pressed to find ancillary services to support the grid. NGCP is strictly prohibited by law from building its own power plants, and it is entirely dependent on the generating capacities that are installed in the Philippine gird,” the NGCP said.
It urged authorities “to consider alternative and responsive policies that will address this dearth in supply in the short, medium and long term, to take into account the gestation period of non-intermittent technologies, which are more suited for ancillary needs of the grid.”