Danessa Rivera (The Philippine Star) - March 11, 2020 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — The Department
of Energy (DOE) is revising its supply-demand forecast amid the coronavirus
disease scare and the onset of hotter temperature.
DOE Undersecretary Felix William
Fuentebella said the current demand data they are seeing now is erratic.
Monitoring by the agency’s power
bureau showed lower demand last month due to the cancellation of some big
events owing to the virus scare.
However, since last week the bureau
has seen an increase in power demand with more people staying at home and
offices still open, the DOE official said.
“We haven’t established the impact
of the COVID 19 yet since the data is erratic. We will be monitoring it
closely,” Fuentebella said.
On Monday, the Philippines recorded
14 new cases of the new coronavirus infections scattered across Metro Manila,
bringing the total number to 24.
As he declared a state of public
health emergency across the country, President Duterte suspended classes in all
levels in the National Capital Region from March 10 until March 14, Saturday.
The total number of infected
increased to 35 yesterday as some private companies implemented work-from-home
operations for employees.
Meanwhile, the DOE has yet to factor
in the warmer weather.
Last month, Philippine Atmospheric,
Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said the country
is expected to experience cold weather until the end of March.
But last Sunday, the state weather
bureau said Metro Manila recorded the hottest day so far this year at 35
degrees.
Meanwhile, PAGASA said the country
should expect warmer weather from noontime until the afternoon due to the warm
wind blowing from the Pacific Ocean.
For its part, the DOE will continue
with the necessary preparations – which started in November – for the dry
season.
Based on latest data from the
agency, this year’s peak demand is at 12,285 megawatts (MW) for Luzon; 2,519 MW
for Visayas and 2,278 MW for Mindanao.
DOE officials said red alert
warnings or tight power supply situations are possible in April and May.
But if action plans are implemented
in the power sector, the red alert notices may be averted during those months.
DOE data showed the ILP capacity in
Luzon is 564 MW, 64 MW in Visayas and 58 MW in Mindanao.
The agency also continues to
encourage consumers to actively practice energy efficiency and conservation
measures to help curb demand.
Energy conservation efforts can save
the grid 141 MW in capacity while energy efficiency measures can take off 217
MW of load in the grid.
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