Supply-demand situation in Luzon grid monitored

Business Mirror
10 Apr 2014 Written by Lenie Lectura

THE Department of Energy (DOE) is keeping a tight watch on the supply and demand situation in the Luzon grid as some power plants remain offline.

“I would not want to cause any panic at this point. We’re monitoring it and we’re making sure that we remain, at the most, on ‘Yellow alert’ and inventorying all the resources that we have and make sure that they come back right away,” Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla said.

Among the power plants that went on scheduled maintenance shutdown include the Santa Rita Unit 40 operated by First Gas Power Corp.; Calaca-2 of SEM-Calaca Power Corp.; Masinloc-1 of Masinloc Power Partners Co. Ltd.; and the Ilijan-1 of South Premier Power Corp.

The Pagbilao power facility will resume operations on April 13 or 14, said Petilla. Masinloc, meanwhile, was scheduled to resume on April 10. “We’re giving a little bit of allowance. If they come back, then that’s good. The others will come back in 15 days or less. This happens every now and then.”

“I’m talking of until end of April. For May, we can talk some other time. There are some critical times in May and we are monitoring this as well,” Petilla said.

The highest demand and available capacity for Luzon are 8,504 MW and 9,571 MW, respectively; 1,526 MW and 1,663 MW for the Visayas, respectively; and 1,362 MW and 1,264 MW for Mindanao, respectively.

In May Luzon’s highest demand is estimated at 8,654 MW, while available capacity is expected at 9,689 MW. For Visayas and Mindanao, the highest demand could be 1,554 MW and 1,400 MW, respectively, while available capacity stands at 1,679 MW and 1,432 MW.

The highest peak demand this year is forecast at 8,654 MW in May. The highest actual peak demand last year was 8,305 MW. source