NGCP hoists yellow alert for Luzon grid on Thursday

By Lenie Lectura September 28, 2017

https://businessmirror.com.ph/ngcp-hoists-yellow-alert-for-luzon-grid-on-thursday/

The Luzon grid was placed on yellow alert once again on Thursday mainly due to unscheduled shutdown of power plants.

“Luzon grid is on yellow alert due to the unexpected shutdown of some power plants and high forecasted demand,” the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) said on Thursday.

The grid operator said the yellow-alert notice took effect from 11 a.m. to 12 noon and 2 to 3 p.m. Luzon’s available capacity stands at 10,473 megawatts (MW) as against a peak demand of 9,676 MW.

The yellow alert was lifted by the NGCP at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday due to sufficient operating reserve and low actual system demand.

A yellow alert means there were not enough reserves to cover the largest running generating unit at the time, but does not necessarily lead to power outages. There have been four instances of yellow alerts raised since August 30.

The Department of Energy (DOE), however, said a yellow-alert notice is not alarming.

“That is one thing we want to clarify…. A yellow alert is not a deficit in supply. It is only a signal that reserves are becoming smaller. The deficit is only on the reserves, not on the supply. The red alert is the one that should be alarming,” DOE Undersecretary Felix William B. Fuentebella clarified.

The yellow-alert notice came after incidence of forced and planned shutdown of power plants.

Those that are on planned outage are the Kalayaan 3, with 180 MW; Kalayaan 4, with 180 MW; and San Lorenzo 1, with 265 MW.

The following power plants that suddenly went offline are three units of Ilijan B (600 MW), Limay 7 (60 MW), Makban 5 (55 MW) and Sual 2 (647 MW).

Fuentebella said the agency would call the attention of these power plants. “We will also audit them again,” he added. “Some plants’ capacity are derated, but it will only cover two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon. It’s basically thinning of reserves by about 150 MW from expected 624 MW required.

Meantime, the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) said it has placed its Interruptible Load Program (ILP) on standby. “As part of our initiative to prepare in case this deteriorates further to a red-alert status, we informed participants under the ILP to be ready. As of 10 a.m., there is a total of 126 accounts with a load of 189.22 MW that have committed  to deload, if necessary,” Meralco Spokesman Joe Zaldarriaga said.

Meralco Senior Vice President and Head of Utility Economics Lawrence Fernandez has expressed concern over the frequent incidence of yellow alerts.

“A yellow alert means there were not enough reserves to cover the largest running generating unit at the time,” Fernandez said. “We are concerned. Since August 30 there has been a once-a-week incidence of yellow alert. Our concern is that, while it has not led to red alerts, automatic load dropping [ALD] occurs when power plants trip. This means some of the customers lose electric service because of the tripping of some power plants,” the Meralco official said.

Fernandez commented that the yellow alerts and the triggering of the  ALD mechanism signal the need for additional capacity in the Luzon grid. “We need new capacities,” he said, adding that as demand for power continues to increase, additional generation supply will be needed, both to meet new demand and to improve the reliability of the electric system.

“While new capacity had been coming in since 2016, the demand has also been growing. In the Meralco area alone, electricity consumption had grown almost 4 percent to date.  This, despite having registered a robust growth of 8.1 percent in 2016, due to the effects of El Niño and elections-related spending,” Fernandez said.

Meralco President Oscar Reyes said there is a need to build up adequate capacity to address possible shortage in power supply because of rising demand.

“I think we don’t want to raise an alarm. It’s really just a realization that you’re better off with adequate capacity because it takes time to build. The yellow alerts are a reality. I think it just shows potential vulnerability of the entire system and you are better with adequate capacity. If we cut it too thinly, and there are a bit of delays, then we’re going into a situation as we move to 2019 to 2022,” he said.