Published
April 16, 2017, 10:00 PM by Myrna Velasco
Luzon grid will
recurrently be in misery of “yellow alert conditions” or insufficient power
reserves and even brownout threats from April until June, according to the
modified power supply-demand outlook issued by system operator National Grid
Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) after several power plants keeled over
following the earthquake scourge in Batangas.
For the Filipinos, that
entails double whammy of “endless wobbly electricity service or critically
tight power supply” the rest of summer and highly probable spikes in their
electric bills.
According to NGCP’s
forecast, power supply will be precarious from April and will just start to
ease after June 3 and towards the remaining weeks of this year’s first half.
Notably, that is a
complete reverse of an earlier assurance that supply during the months of
scorching weather would on the “sufficiently safe zone” – turning then as a
“make-or-break spell” for those in charge of planning and assessing the
country’s power supply-demand outlook.
So far, this year’s
running peak demand had been recorded at 9,459 megawatts last March 24, but the
projected peak is still anticipated to occur on the week of May 27 to June 02
at 9,870MW – that is also the period when available capacity creeps into
razor-thin proportion.
It is likewise apparent
in the NGCP data that Luzon grid will only be able to “avoid red alert” or
rotating brownouts on these periods because the government will be running the
650-megawatt Malaya thermal power plant.
Nevertheless, state-run
Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation (PSALM) has to
make known how long the Malaya plant could really last if it is being razed to
the ground in supplying the grid – that is in terms of its technical capacity
and also based on fuel inventory.
This protracted
predicament of Luzon grid yellow alerts would be triggered by a combination of
the simultaneous scheduled maintenance shutdown of power plants, the
inoperability of a number of generating facilities after the earthquake; and
extended forced outages of the other plants.
From April 3 until June
25, at least 13 power generating facilities would still be on scheduled
downtime; while some plants taken out from the system post the Batangas
disaster have yet to give timeframe on their re-synchronization to the grid.
Another impact of this
power sector muddle that is difficult to explain to the public would be on
consequent rate hikes – especially on these months when consumption would be
peaking in many households because of the blistering weather.
Energy Secretary
Alfonso G. Cusi has given word that they are currently discussing with the
operator of the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) as well as with the
other industry players on “mitigating measures pertaining to spikes in the
price of power.”
While the government
has its hands tied on such appalling condition, the energy chief at this time
can only appeal to consumers “to use power wisely to help stabilize energy
demand particularly during the summer season.”
Meanwhile,
post-Holy Week power supply may finally improve with the anticipated
synchronization of the 600-megawatt Ilijan Block B gas-fired power generating
unit as targeted morning today (April17)
That has been the
assurance given by plant operator Korea Electric Power Company (KEPCO) to the
Department of Energy (DOE), as the latter calls on the immediate restoration of
the earthquake-hit power facilities.
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