Around 165 megawatts of electricity were shaved off from the entire grid during the celebration of Earth Hour 2017 on Saturday.
This is slightly lower than the 172 MW that went offline during last year’s celebration of Earth Hour, where participants voluntary switch off during the designated time.
The Energy Department said system operator National Grid Corporation of the Philippines observed maximum load reduction during the Earth Hour event at 77 MW for Luzon grid, 44 MW for Visayas grid and 44 MW for Mindanao grid.
The 2016 Earth Hour celebration, meanwhile, reflected a load drop of 136 MW for Luzon grid, 30 MW for Visayas grid and 6MW for Mindanao grid.
Energy Undersecretary Felix William Fuentebella said there were fewer participants this year, resulting in a lower load drop.
The Earth Hour event is part of the worldwide annual celebration to raise awareness on climate change.
Fuentebella urged the public to promote demand side management with the onset of the dry months.
The department announced measures to ensure the sufficiency and stability of energy supply during the dry months when power output is traditionally lean.
The department has vowed t o continue the close coordination among the stakeholders in monitoring the entire energy supply chain.
The department will also ensure the completion of power plants in time for the dey months, such as the Limay coal-fired power plant in Bataan of San Miguel Corp., which can provide additional capacity to the Luzon grid.
The agency will monitor the output of the power plants through the conduct of performance assessment and audit.
The department is preparing the availability of the Malaya Thermal Power Plant as a back-up generation to ensure sufficiency of supply.