By Jordeene B. Lagare June 1, 2021
In its advisory, the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) said on Monday it implemented rotational brownouts or manual load dropping (MLD) in portions of Metro Manila as well as provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, Quezon and Rizal.
MLD is implemented by Meralco by cutting off electricity in areas served at a specific time due to power supply shortage.
Yellow alert was hoisted from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Red alert was subsequently raised from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. before it reverted to yellow alert from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.
A red alert is raised in the event of zero ancillary service or deficient reserves that may result in rotational power outages while a yellow alert is hoisted when power reserves are thin.
Data from the NGCP showed the estimated available capacity was at 11,729 megawatts (MW) but demand was projected to peak at 11,514 MW, leaving a buffer of just over 200 MW.
Data from the Department of Energy (DoE) showed that Units 1 to 3 of San Roque Power Corp.'s hydroelectric power plant, with total capacity of 435 MW, are on planned outage.
The following power facilities with total capacity of 1,285 MW are on forced/extended planned outage include TeaM Sual Corp.'s Unit 2 Coal-Fired Power Plant; Units 1 and 2 of CBK Power Caliraya's Hydroelectric Power Plant; GNPower Mariveles Energy Center Ltd. Co.'s Mariveles Unit 1 Coal-Fired Power Plant; and Sem-Calaca Power Corp.'s Calaca Unit 2 Coal-Fired Power Plant.
Meanwhile, the Ilijan power plant is operating at a reduced capacity of 484 MW due to the ongoing gas restriction from the Malampaya gas project.
Also, the agency noted that GNPower Dinginin Ltd. Co. on Monday canceled the testing activities in its 2 x 668-MW supercritical coal-fired power plant in Mariveles, Bataan due to suspected tube leak.
To address high system demand in the Luzon grid and due to the increased ambient temperature because of the summer season, Meralco said 86 establishments have confirmed willingness to participate in its interruptible load program (ILP), equivalent to a capacity of 168 MW.
ILP is a scheme aimed at alleviating supply crunch in the power grid by voluntarily reducing the amount of load connected to the distribution grid during the peak hours of the day.
The DoE said it will monitor the power situation and will submit the additional pieces of information for the consumers and the enforcement agencies, including the Energy Regulatory Commission, Philippine Competition Commission, and Department of Justice, considering its long-term strategy of addressing the power supply and demand situation during the summer season.
"It (DoE) continues to remind the distribution utilities and the system operator of its contracting obligations to address the needed capacity increases for a reliable power system for its consumers," it added.
Joe Zaldarriaga, Meralco vice president and corporate communications head, said Meralco will continue to work with the rest of the energy sector as it closely monitors the power supply situation.
"On the distribution side, We assure our customers that as long as supply is adequate, then there will be no issue in so far as our system capability is concerned," he added.
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