(The Philippine Star) | Updated August 6, 2016 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines -
Parts of Luzon yesterday suffered up to three-hour power outages, even as
provinces in Northern Luzon were advised to brace for a 12-hour blackout today.
The National Grid Corp.
of the Philippines (NGCP) said yesterday’s power outages were due to severe
power deficiency in the grid.
NGCP raised a red alert
status in the Luzon grid from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and a yellow alert status from
6 p.m. to 12 a.m.
A red alert means there
is severe power deficiency, while a yellow alert means that contingency
reserves are below the minimum level set by the regulator but does not
necessarily lead to power outages.
“Luzon grid is on red
alert due to zero operating reserves and yellow alert due to lower level
operating reserves brought about by insufficient power supply from generating
plants,” the grid operator said.
Based on NGCP’s
projections, available capacity was only at 9,030 megawatts while peak demand
was expected to reach 8,564 MW.
In a text message,
Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said the insufficient power supply was caused by
the sudden outage of four power plants and six power plants under scheduled
maintenance.
Manila Electric Co.
(Meralco) said the 300-MW Calaca plant trippped at 2:18 a.m. yesterday, while
the government-owned Malaya 1 plant was unable to synchronize due to fuel oil
heater tube leak.
“Derated plants include
Malaya 2 (280 MW), Calaca 1 (156 MW) while QPPL also experienced a reduction of
load,” the firm added.
Meralco implemented
manual load dropping, or rotating blackouts, for two to three hours within its
franchise area starting 10 a.m. until 6 p.m., according to senior vice
president and head of utility economics Larry Fernandez.
In view of the
recurring yellow and red alert status in the past few days, Cusi said he would
meet with Meralco and NGCP “to plan the course of action.”
“Since last week, I
have asked Energy Regulation Commission to investigate why we have been on
yellow/red alert and for DOW power bureau to conduct technical audit of plants,
prioritizing those who had forced outage,” he added.
The energy secretary
also said the DOE is looking at possible violations by power utilities that
caused “these debilitating power interruptions” which “are in total violation
of the EPIRA (Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001).”
12-hour blackout to hit Cagayan, Kalinga, Isabela
Meanwhile, the entire
province of Cagayan, Kalinga-Apayao and parts of Isabela will experience a
12-hour blackout today.
NGCP North Luzon
spokesperson Lilibeth Gaydowen said the power interruption would be from 6 a.m.
to 6 p.m.
It would affect the
distribution utilities of the entire franchise areas of the Cagayan Electric
Cooperative I and II, the Kalinga Electric Cooperative and parts of Iselco II
under Cabagan substation.
Gaydowen said the
blackout would pave the way for the commissioning and energization of
additional high voltage circuit breakers at the Tuguegarao substation.
The work is
simultaneous with preventive and corrective maintenance of substation and
transmission lines utilized by the electric cooperatives.
Consumer group Citizen
Watch said the series of power outages are a “suspicious” trend of simultaneous
outages.
Citizen Watch secretary
general Wilford Wong noted that this is similar to the suspicious shutdowns in
November 2013 that drastically affected supply and consequently drove up rates
to the disadvantage of consumers who will bear the brunt of the increase.
“We reiterate our call
for a strict audit of the operational fitness of all existing power plants,
which can serve as an accurate base of what is really the actual and dependable
capacity in the grid,” Wong said in a statement. – Raymund Catindig, Victor Martin
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