Possible power outage in Metro Manila this weekend

The Manila Times
July 11, 2014 10:13 pm
by Ritchie A. Horario

There may be possible outages in Metro Manila over the weekend because of the scheduled maintenance shutdown of the 1,200-MW Ilijan power plant in Batangas, which would reduce power supply to the country’s capital.
The Department of Energy (DOE) said it is giving priority to the maintenance of power plants in order to ensure the efficiency of all existing power assets in the country.
Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla said faithfully attending to maintenance works of these plants will avoid future disruptions in power supply.
Petilla said the maintenance shutdown of the1,200-megawatt Ilijan combined-cycle power plant in Batangas is scheduled on Saturday until Sunday. The plant is operated by Kepco Philippines Inc.
He said the current state of Ilijan power plant’s pipelines will be inspected using what is
known as a “pigging” process to eliminate accumulated deposits and improve the overall productivity of the facility.
The pigging process will clean the nearly 15-kilometer pipeline which originates from the Malampaya platform.
Petilla said the maintenance work could no longer be rescheduled as the equipment for the
process are now available.
The Ilijan plant is one of three natural gas-fired plants supplying 30-40 percent of Luzon’s energy requirements.
“We have the equipment ready so might as well do it as scheduled…we can’t risk resetting the pigging as there are other power plants that are scheduled for maintenance,” said Petilla.
He stressed that any postponement of the scheduled maintenance of Ilijan plant “might just aggravate our current energy situation.”
He assured that the DOE would closely monitor all the activities during the pigging process and coordinate with all concerned energy agencies and companies. source