By Joann Villanueva/Philippine News Agency
MANILA — Officials of the Department of Energy (DOE) met with power industry players from government and the private sector on Wednesday to identify what additional measures are needed to ensure that the demand for electricity is met, following the issuance of a red alert notice on power supply during the day.
In a statement, the energy department said the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) lifted the red alert notice effective 4:46 pm but kept a yellow alert for the 5:01pm to 9pm interval.
These alerts are raised as power reserves thin.
As risks to reserves persist given the high demand during the summer months and the unplanned outage and de-rated capacity of some power plants, DOE met with officials of the power plants that are on forced outage during the day.
These meetings are made “to coordinate the immediate actions to be made for them to be synchronized back into the grid,” DOE said.
The Energy Department earlier announced that Wednesday’s supply was reduced by total of 1,352 MW after four power plants went on forced outages.
These are the Unit 1 of the 1,200-MW Sual Power Station in Sual, Pangasinan, which is not operational from April 9-14, 2019 due to piping leak on the boiler circulating pump; the Unit 2 of the South Luzon Power Generation Corporation (SLPGC), operations of which was stopped last April 7 due to vibration in primary air fan. The SLPGC U2 is expected to go back online on April 21, 2019.
Also, operations of the Unit 3 of the Pagbilao Power Plant in Quezon Province were put on hold last April 2 an this will last until April 16 due to boiler slagging while Unit 1 of the South Luzon Thermal Energy Corporation (SLTEC) is not operating since March 20 and will last until April 13 due to boiler tube leak.
Meanwhile, Unit 1 of the Malaya Power Plant in Rizal is on de-rated situation from its original capacity of 300 MW to just 150MW because of isolation of high-pressure heater. Unit 2 of the Calaca Power Plant in Batangas was also de-rated from 300MW to 200MW because only half of its condenser is operating.
Energy department officials “will meet with Sual plant managers tomorrow, because they were not able to attend the meeting earlier today.”
DOE officials also met with executives from the Manila Electric Company (MERALCO) and Aboitiz Power Corp. subsidiary Therma Mobile Inc. (TMO), among others,” to facilitate the requirements for tapping these generators to supply the required capacity and voltage regulation requirements within the MERALCO franchise area.”
“The coordination with the NGCP and the IEMOP (Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines) is also being undertaken,” the DOE said.
DOE officials are also scheduled to meet with participants of the Interruptible Load Program (ILP) on Monday.
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