THIS SUMMER: Power interruptions unlikely

By Jed Macapagal - April 23, 2021

https://malaya.com.ph/index.php/news_business/this-summer-power-interruptions-unlikely/

The Department of Energy (DOE) does not expect to raise red alert in the Luzon grid this summer as indicated by power demand trends.

This simply means power interruptions are unlikely.

The DOE said at worst, yellow alerts may be raised.

Yellow alerts are issued when the level of power reserve in the grid is low while red alerts are issued when actual power supply against demand is insufficient and power interruptions are imminent.

The agency said the revised forecast was made as it observed peak demand levels against actual demand levels were not breached since the start of the year.

Year-to-date peak demand stood at 10,543 megawatts (MW) against forecasted peak 11,841 MW for 2021, or a difference of 1,298 MW.

The DOE said it is closely monitoring actual day-to-day peak demand citing the updated power outlook for the year provided by the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines as of April 14 which showed yellow alerts may be experienced from the 15th to 18th weeks and from the 21st to 25th weeks of the year.

“If we look at the trend, since January, actual demand is far from the projected demand and if we follow that, we will not hit the forecasted 11,800 MW peak demand for May… We are hoping to sustain the same supply and demand profile towards June barring any untoward incidents because there are also forced outages that can happen along the way,” said Redentor Delola, DOE assistant secretary, in a virtual briefing yesterday.

“If we experience high volumes of forced outages, then maybe we will experience some alerts but based on the projections, we should have yellow alerts this week but in actual, we did not breach any alerts so far,” Delola said.

He said more relaxed quarantine restrictions will not significantly impact power demand due to the effects of La Nina from May and June.

The DOE said as of yesterday, seven power plant units with a total capacity of over 1,900 MW — plants operated by SN Aboitiz Power; GNPower Mariveles Energy, South Luzon Power Generation Corp.; Sem-Calaca Power Corp. AND TeaM Energy Corp. — are on outage or derating.

Delola said only two of the downed power plants are on planned outage and the five are on forced outage.

DOE spokesman Felix William Fuentebella said the agency has asked the Energy Regulatory Commission, the Philippine Competition Commission and the Department of Justice for enforcement assistance and case buildup on possible violation by industry players for extended outages of among other policies, Department Circular No. 2020-02-0004.

The circular provides the guidelines of planned outage schedules of power plants and transmission facilities.

Meanwhile, Laban Konsyumer Inc. (LKI) said the DOE must strictly implement the grid operating and maintenance program rule of zero plant maintenance during the summer months.

LKI said in a statement the spot market operator should flag any irregular price spikes in the market and should use its powers to investigate and impose sanctions on erring plant owners.

“When supply of power is lacking, prices in the spot market go up and distribution utilities are forced to get their power from spot market with high generation costs that will (in turn) burden the consumers,” said Victor Dimagiba, LKI president.

Senate committee on energy chairman Sherwin Gatchalian, said the DOE should also verify whether or not power plants on extended outages are really experiencing logistical problems in the delivery of spare parts as claimed.

“An immediate action should be done in order for plants not to experience simultaneous forced shutdowns,” Gatchalian said.