By Lenie Lectura - February 19, 2020
THE Department of Energy (DOE) is
meeting officials of the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) and the National Grid
Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) today to discuss measures being undertaken to
mitigate the impact of the power-supply deficiency between April and May this
year.
“DOE called NGCP and Meralco to a
meeting to discuss the summer 2020 supply-demand situation,” said Meralco
utility economics head Lawrence Fernandez in an interview Wednesday.
DOE Assistant Secretary Redentor
Delola confirmed the meeting will take place on February 19.
“They’ll present their individual
updates on their measures to address the summer deficiencies. We regularly meet
with them. This time, it will be with Usec Jess [Posadas]. Just to update him,”
he said via text message.
When asked if the agency has any
directives to Meralco and NGCP, Delola said the DOE wants them fully prepared
to handle foreseeable situations to prevent power outages.
NGCP will include in its ILP
(Interruptible Load Program) their directly connected customers, he said. “On
the maintenance schedule, the schedules have been moved. NGCP also has to
ensure that they have contracted ancillary service. Also, they
must fast-track some transmission lines projects to allow generation from
incoming plants like GNPD [GN Power Dinginin],” he said.
For Meralco, the DOE will instruct
the utility firm “to ensure their requirements are contracted, to intensify
their ILP program as well and work with EUMB [Energy Utilization and Management
Bureau] on the energy efficiency side like load shifting, etc…”
Meralco, for its part, said it
is ready to activate its ILP, in which it will ask its partner
establishments to turn their power generators on whenever the power supply is
constricted instead of drawing power from the grid. Thus, power supply
that is not consumed by participating customers will be available for use by
other customers within Meralco’s franchise area.
“In case there are forced outages by
the power generators, Meralco has measures in place to ensure continued,
reliable service to our customers. It continues to reach out to partner
customers to implement the ILP in order to augment the power supply needed in
households in Luzon during times of challenged supply,” said Meralco
spokesman Joe Zaldarriaga when sought for comment.
Meralco also encourages customers to
practice energy efficiency and join the Peak-Off Peak Program, to transfer
power consumption to the nighttime.
The DOE estimates that red alerts
may be issued from April 18 to 21 and May 20 to 22, and that an additional
capacity of 256 megawatts to 821 MW is needed in the Luzon power grid to avoid
the yellow or red alert in the region.
A yellow alert is issued when power
supplies are low but may not lead to power outages, while a red alert is issued
when the power supply in power grids is insufficient and may result in
rotational brownouts or manual load dropping in areas covered by particular
grids.
The National Electrification
Administration (NEA) warned the other day of rotational brownouts that could
last for an hour on days mentioned by the DOE.
Electric
co-ops
NEA has called on all electric
cooperatives (ECs) in Luzon and Visayas to prepare their respective contingency
plans like the demand-side management programs and maximizing embedded power
plants to reduce, if not eliminate, rotating brownouts during peak hours.
Embedded power plants are
those that are not directly connected to the power grid but still supply
power to a specific area.
In Luzon, five ECs—Ilocos Norte
Electric Cooperative Inc. (INEC), Isabela I Electric Cooperative Inc. (ISELCO
I), Isabela II Electric Cooperative (ISELCO II), Zambales II Electric
Cooperative Inc. (ZAMECO II), and Sorsogon II Electric Cooperative Inc. (SORECO
II)—have embedded power plants with a combined capacity of 11.696 MW.
In the Visayas, three power
distribution utilities—Cebu I Electric Cooperative Inc. (CEBECO I), Bohol I
Electric Cooperative Inc. (BOHECO I), and Southern Leyte Electric Cooperative
Inc. (SOLECO)—have embedded mini-hydro power plants with a total capacity of
10.42 MW.
“We have already advised ECs that do
not have embedded power plants to initiate demand-side management programs,
wherein the ECs will work with big electricity consumers in order for them to
reduce their usage when demand is high or when an alert level is issued,” said
NEA.
NEA has also recommended that ECs
implement load curtailment or load shedding in their respective coverage areas
when necessary.
Affected ECs are also directed to
encourage large establishments with stand-by generating capacities to
participate ILP.
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