Updated
September 30, 2017, 3:01 PM By Myrna M. Velasco
It was not a ‘lucky
seven strike’ for Luzon power grid, as it was plunged anew into ‘yellow alert’
or reserve-strained electricity supply condition on Friday (September 29),
distressingly while the country was capping its hosting of the 35th ASEAN
Ministers Energy Meeting (AMEM) in Pasay City.
From the first
declaration of ‘yellow alert’ by system operator National Grid Corporation of
the Philippines (NGCP) last August 30, this is already the seventh time that
the biggest power grid had to be pushed into supply breaking point – in just a
stretch of a month.
On Friday, NGCP had to
place the grid on such state from 11 a.m.-3 p.m., as the available power capacity
had been drastically cut to just 9,894 megawatts due to the planned and forced
outages of seven generating power units that resulted in capacity loss of 2,377
megawatts.
The generating
facilities on planned shutdowns were: the 450MW San Gabriel; 600MW Ilijan; 55MW
Makiling-Banahaw; 647MW Sual 2; while those on forced outages had been:
Kalayaan Unit 3 with 180MW; Kalayaan Unit 4 with 180MW; and San Lorenzo gas
plant Unit 1 at 255MW capacity.
As of 1:00 p.m. though,
the Department of Energy (DoE) advised that the ‘yellow alert status’ in the
grid had already been lifted “due to sufficient operating reserve brought about
by actual system demand.” Net reserve so far improved to 653MW as of press
time; from the decimated 357MW earlier in the day.
According to DoE data
also, it indicated that available capacity on Friday was at 9,894MW, hence, if
that is reckoned with the installed capacity being brandished in their
supply-demand outlook, many of the power facilities could have been
experiencing very high degree of “unreliability” – a disconcerting precept
considering that this year’s ASEAN theme revolved around resiliency and
sustainability of power supply.
Industry stakeholders then
are prodding DoE to ‘come clean’ as to the real state of the power plants; and
why its promised audit of their operations since the initial months of the
Duterte administration had not been started until now.
Power utility giant
Manila Electric Company (Meralco) already sounded off developments on “sudden
demand increase” propelled mainly by boom in industrial activities as well as
the increasing consumption of households.
It remains to be
explained, however, how all these are being factored in into the planning
strategies of the energy department – primarily on its invitation to investors
for fresh capital outlay to bring the country’s installed power capacity to
43,765MW by year 2040.
Fast-tracking the entry
of new power projects also remained a big puzzle as the department has yet to
find its way into operationalizing and concretizing Executive Order No. 30, a
Presidential order streamlining the permitting processes for energy
investments.
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