Business World Online
Posted on June 21, 2012 10:33:47 PM
ELECTRICITY SUPPLY will be tight today, the Energy department warned, with Luzon reserves below the ideal 1,000 megawatts (MW) due to offline power plants.
A yellow alert was declared yesterday after three power plants shut down and another three were forced to run at much lower capacities due to various technical issues.
The 600-MW Calaca coal-fired plant shut down due to a boiler leak along with the 1,200-MW Sta. Rita and 500-MW San Lorenzo natural gas-fired plants, which were hit by unspecified technical problems. Glitches that hit other generating facilities -- the 735-MW Pagbilao coal-fired plant, 200-MW Tiwi geothermal plant and 1,200-MW Sual coal-fired plant -- forced these to operated at well below capacity.
"It’s still going to be tight tomorrow even if we have already lifted the yellow alert. If anything else breaks down it will affect the power supply," Energy Undersecretary Josefina Patricia M. Asirit told reporters.
Both the Sta. Rita and San Lorenzo plants have resumed operations but Calaca and Pagbilao are expected to remain offline or at least run at diminished capacities.
Pagbilao yesterday ran at a derated 300 MW yesterday due to the preventive maintenance of one unit, Tiwi was at 60 MW due to low steam supply and Sual ran at 300 MW.
The government held off from running the 650-MW Malaya thermal power plant, normally run when there is tight supply, as it wanted to ensure capacity during next month’s planned maintenance shutdown of the Malampaya natural-gas project.
Malampaya provides natural gas to Sta. Rita and San Lorenzo and the preventive maintenance work will keep the facility offline for eight days from July 13 to 20.
Luzon had reserves of 101 MW yesterday with a system peak of 7,434 MW, National Grid Corporation of the Philippines reported. Its system capacity is 7,535 MW.
Ideal reserves for the island should be around 1,000 MW, which officials describe as a comfortable cushion should a power plant unexpectedly shut down. -- ENJD source
The 600-MW Calaca coal-fired plant shut down due to a boiler leak along with the 1,200-MW Sta. Rita and 500-MW San Lorenzo natural gas-fired plants, which were hit by unspecified technical problems. Glitches that hit other generating facilities -- the 735-MW Pagbilao coal-fired plant, 200-MW Tiwi geothermal plant and 1,200-MW Sual coal-fired plant -- forced these to operated at well below capacity.
"It’s still going to be tight tomorrow even if we have already lifted the yellow alert. If anything else breaks down it will affect the power supply," Energy Undersecretary Josefina Patricia M. Asirit told reporters.
Both the Sta. Rita and San Lorenzo plants have resumed operations but Calaca and Pagbilao are expected to remain offline or at least run at diminished capacities.
Pagbilao yesterday ran at a derated 300 MW yesterday due to the preventive maintenance of one unit, Tiwi was at 60 MW due to low steam supply and Sual ran at 300 MW.
The government held off from running the 650-MW Malaya thermal power plant, normally run when there is tight supply, as it wanted to ensure capacity during next month’s planned maintenance shutdown of the Malampaya natural-gas project.
Malampaya provides natural gas to Sta. Rita and San Lorenzo and the preventive maintenance work will keep the facility offline for eight days from July 13 to 20.
Luzon had reserves of 101 MW yesterday with a system peak of 7,434 MW, National Grid Corporation of the Philippines reported. Its system capacity is 7,535 MW.
Ideal reserves for the island should be around 1,000 MW, which officials describe as a comfortable cushion should a power plant unexpectedly shut down. -- ENJD source
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