By Dean Aubrey Caratiquet
Amid searing hot temperatures brought about by the summer season, the last thing one wants to experience is a series of power interruptions that render electric fans and air conditioners useless in providing relief from the heat.
This, however, was exactly the scenario that transpired recently, as the tripping of the 500kV (kilovolt) Ilijan–Dasmariñas transmission lines, followed by the subsequent tripping of the 500 kV Ilijan–Tayabas transmission lines, caused the Ilijan Gas to Power Complex to become isolated from the Luzon grid.
This led to the prompt issuance of a Red Alert over the Luzon grid and a Yellow Alert over the Visayas grid, which even resulted in rotational blackouts that took place in Metro Manila and parts of Region 1, 2, 3, 4-A, and 5 in Luzon, as well as some parts of Region 6, 7, Negros Island Region, and Region 8.
The lines that went out of service account for roughly 12% of Luzon’s supply at the time, which underscores the significance of this major outage.
As such, the Department of Energy (DOE) vowed to conduct a thorough probe on this notable grid disruption by mobilizing the Grid Reliability Task Force (GRTF), composed of the DOE, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP), the National Transmission Corporation (TransCo), and the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation (PSALM).
This action complements the call for accountability from the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) for any possible lapses or negligence that may have occurred which eventually transpired into the outage that temporarily left most of Luzon and parts of Visayas in the dark.
Energy Secretary Sharon Garin said in a statement, “The public deserves a complete accounting of incidents of this magnitude. We will ensure that all operational, technical, and compliance dimensions are fully examined and that appropriate actions are taken where warranted.”
As of Monday, the NGCP declared an extended Yellow Alert in the Visayas grid from 3:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., noting a demand of 2,585 megawatts hovering dangerously close to the 2,683 megawatts in available capacity. (with report from Gab Villegas | PTV News)
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