As Metro Manila faces scorching heat on Tuesday, system operator National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) announced red and yellow alerts for the Luzon grid with the possibility of power outages from 2pm to 4pm and from 6pm to 9pm after 19 power plants went on a forced outage.
Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) has called on participants of the Interruptible Load Program (ILP) for possible de-loading and use their on gensets to ease demand and avoid brownouts.
“We are closely monitoring the situation and will give updates as soon as available. Meanwhile, we are ready in the event the implementation of manual load dropping (MLD) or rotating power interruptions will be needed as part of our responsibility to manage the system,” Meralco said.
The NGCP also placed the Luzon grid on yellow alert from 1pm to 2pm, 4pm to 6pm and 9pm to 11pm.
Luzon’s available capacity was placed at 13,537 megawatts (MW) versus the peak demand of 13,024MW.
A red alert status is issued when power supply is insufficient to meet consumer demand and the transmission grid’s regulating requirement. A yellow alert is issued when the operating margin is insufficient to meet the transmission grid’s contingency requirement.
The NGCP placed the Visayas grid on yellow alert from 2pm to 4pm and 6pm to 7pm. Available capacity in the Visayas grid was at 2,742MW versus peak demand of 2,440MW. It said 12 power plants are on forced outage, while five others are running on derated capacities, for a total of 676.5MW unavailable to the grid.
The NGCP said Tuesday afternoon it may implement MLD that would result to outages in several areas in in five areas to maintain the integrity of the power system.
It said it will implement MLD from 2pm to 3pmin the franchise area of Ilocos Norte Electric Cooperative affecting parts of Ilocos Norte), Isabela 1 Electric Cooperative (parts of Isabela), Olongapo Electricity Distribution Company, Inc. (parts of Olongapo City), Cagayan 2 Electric Cooperative (parts of Cagayan) and Batangas 1 Electric Cooperative (parts of Batangas).
Meralco further said it may implement a one-hour MLD or rotating power interruptions between 2pm and 4pm in its franchise area, affecting around 660,000 service accounts.
Meralco said tentative MLD may be implemented from 2:01pm to 3pm in Metro Manila, specifically some barangays in Caloocan City, Manila, Pasay City, Pasig City, Quezon City, and Taguig City. The power firm said between 3:01pm to 4pm, MLD may also affect Makati City, Marikina City, Parañaque City, San Juan City, Valenzuela City Quezon Province.
Meralco said some parts of Bulacan, involving around 180,000 service connections -barangays in Angat, Bustos, Malolos City, Norzagaray, Pandi, San Jose del Monte City and Santa Maria may be affected.
Some barangays in Calauan, San Pablo City may also be affected in Laguna.
In Quezon province, some barangays in Candelaria, Mauban, Sampaloc and Tayabas City may be affected. Some parts of Batangas City may also be afffected covering 480,000 service connections.
Barangays in Cavite, namely Amadeo, Gen. Trias City, Imus City, Kawit, Naic, Noveleta, Silang, Tagaytay City, Tanza, Trece Martirez City may also be impacted Laguna barangays Liliw, Luisiana, Majayjay, Nagcarlan, Pila and Sta. Cruz may also experience MLD.
Some barangas in Quezon Province – Candelaria, Lucban, Lucena City, Sampaloc, Sariaya, Tayabas City and Rizal Province – Angono, Antipolo City, Baras, Cainta, Cardona, Morong, San Mateo, Tanay, Teresa may also face outages.
Meanwhile, the Department of Energy (DOE), through its Electric Power Industry Management Bureau (EPIMB) said it is closely monitoring and coordinating with the NGCP and all generation companies on the current power supply condition following the red and yellow alert declarations.
The DOE has instructed all distribution utilities (DUs) in Luzon, including the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) and electric cooperatives (ECs), to activate their Interruptible Load Program (ILP) to help reduce the overall demand in the grid.
It reiterated the directive of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for all government offices to take the lead in conserving energy and minimizing power use, particularly during this period.
The DOE is also encouraging the public to minimize the use of electricity during peak hours. These include turning off lights and unplugging appliances when not in use, avoiding whenever possible, the use of high-energy consuming devices such aircons and elevators.