DOE, ERC: No power outages on election day

Danessa Rivera, Cecille Suerte Felipe (The Philippine Star) - April 26, 2019 - 12:00am

https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2019/04/26/1912648/doe-erc-no-power-outages-election-day

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Energy (DOE) and the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) assured the public that there will be no blackouts or  interruption of electricity supply on May 13, election day.

Officials of the DOE and ERC gave the assurance during a public hearing conducted by the Senate energy committee chaired by Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian following the recent spate of power outages in Luzon.

This was after the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) placed the Luzon grid on “red alert” due to the simultaneous shutdown of five power plants.

During the hearing, Gatchalian asked the DOE and ERC to look for additional supply of electricity to prevent power interruption during the canvassing of votes, which will be as crucial as on election day itself.

Gatchalian said there will be no work and classes during election day and thus power consumption will be lower compared to the canvassing of votes.

“The canvassing is in danger… It was disclosed earlier that before and after May 13, reserves are thin. If this happens again, when plants shut down, chances are we might have a blackout,” Gatchalian said.

Quoting the DOE and ERC report, Gatchalian said the demand for electricity continues to increase.

Gatchalian said DOE and ERC have a lot of policies that, if implemented, could have prevented the breaking down of power plants, thus avoiding additional costs for consumers.

At the same time, Gatchalian said administrative charges can be imposed on some officials and personnel of DOE and ERC for their lapses that resulted in inconvenience and costs on the part of consumers.

“We will hold them (DOE and ERC officials and personnel) also administratively liable,” he added.

He said ERC can also impose fines on power producers of up to P50 million. “Actually we saw the lapses in policies.”

During the hearing, Reynaldo Abadilla, head of the NGCP-Luzon System Operations, said there is a possibility of power interruption from now until June or after the summer season due to thin reserves.

Rowaldo Delmundo, a consultant of the National Transmission Corp. (TransCo), said the operation aspect should also be considered.

“There are power plants with very high planned, unplanned and forced outages. We should study what to do with these power plants,” Delmundo said. 

Red alert

Blackouts resumed in Luzon and in Metro Manila yesterday after a transmission line tripped and because several quake-affected power plants have yet to resume operation.

The NGCP raised red alert warnings on the Luzon power grid for longer hours yesterday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Meanwhile, the yellow alert notice was from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.

A yellow alert means there are not enough reserves to cover the largest running generating unit at the time but does not necessarily lead to power outages. On the other hand, a red alert status means there is severe power deficiency.

The grid operator said available capacity was at 10,707 megawatts while peak demand was estimated to reach 10,534 MW.

At least 1,300 MW of capacity is not supplied to the grid from power plants operating on unplanned shutdown and derated capacity.