June 3, 2021 | 8:36 pm
https://www.bworldonline.com/doe-says-no-more-brownouts-expected-investigating-outages/
THE Department of Energy (DoE) said Thursday that the Luzon grid has returned to normal and that it expects no further rotating brownouts, though it does plan to investigate claims of “sabotage” behind the simultaneous outages that took out enough power capacity to warrant three days of red alerts on the grid.
Early Thursday, the DoE characterized the Luzon grid as being in “normal system condition” since there are sufficient reserves to handle projected demand. The department said demand has fallen due to the “adverse weather conditions” arising from the transit of tropical storm Dante (international name: Choi-wan).
“Barring any sudden increase in demand, no rotational outages are expected to happen within the day,” the DoE said.
Forced outages took out capacity amounting to 1,372 megawatts (MW), due to the unavailability of unit 2 of the Pagbilao coal-fired plant; units 1 and 2 of the GNPower Mariveles Energy Center’s coal-fired plant, and unit 2 of the Calaca coal-fired plant. Meanwhile, planned outages took down 435 MW as three units of the San Roque Power Corp.’s hydroelectric power plant remained offline.
Reduced output from power plants totaled 2,126 MW, including 484 MW from KEPCO Ilijan Corp.’s gas-fired plant which remained unavailable. Some 1,642 MW from other coal, oil-based and renewables plants were deemed “de-rated.”
“Iyon naman sinasabi sa kung (may) sabotage sa pangyayari, ipinatitignan na po natin sa ating mga tao and I have also asked ang tulong ng ERC (Energy Regulatory Commission) and ng Philippine Competition Commission to look into the allegation. (Our people are looking into the claims of sabotage. I have also asked the help of the ERC and PCC to look into the allegation),” Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi told the President’s spokesman Herminio L. Roque, Jr. during a briefing Thursday.
He said that the department will wait until the investigation concludes before addressing the sabotage claims.
Mr. Roque had asked whether the department had any information on any shutdowns may have been deliberate as demand for power peaked this week.
Mr. Cusi said this is the first time in five years this has happened. “We had rotational brownouts, and it’s because power plants with a capacity of more than 2,000 megawatts (MW) broke down all at once,” he said.
He also apologized for the rotating outages.
The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) declared three consecutive red alerts on the Luzon grid earlier this week.
The DoE said that it is “working closely” with enforcement agencies, including the ERC, Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) and Department of Justice, to investigate the activities of the energy industry.
DOJ, SENATE PANEL TO PROBE OUTAGES
Justice Secretary Menardo I.
Guevarra said Thursday that he will instruct the National Bureau of
Investigation (NBI) to prepare for a possible investigation of generation
companies.
According to reports, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Alexei B. Nograles told the DoJ to work with the DoE to determine whether there was any collusion to take capacity down, which he said amounts to “economic sabotage.”
“We have not received any formal directive from the Palace regarding this matter, but I will alert the NBI to stand by and prepare to investigate,” Mr. Guevarra said Thursday.
Senator Sherwin T. Gatchalian, who chairs the senate committee on energy, said separately that he has filed a resolution seeking an investigation into the grid’s supply situation.
The resolution notes that the DoE “gave assurances that the country will not encounter major challenges or alerts in its supply,” referring to the department’s earlier projections that the Luzon grid will not likely to be placed under a red alert during the dry season.
“Despite the guarantee of DoE, some areas of Luzon experienced rotational brownouts on May 31 and June 1 due to red alerts… Even with all these hearings on power supply shortages and the measures that DoE has proposed to address the problem, the issue has been a recurring problem in the past five years,” according to the resolution, a copy of which was obtained by BusinessWorld.
“It is crucial to hold the DoE to account, being the agency responsible for ensuring security of energy supply… and its failure to address power supply shortages since 2016.”
There is no schedule yet for the Senate Committee on Energy’s investigation, Mr. Gatchalian’s office said.
ERC ORDERS GRID OPERATOR TO EXPLAIN
PROJECT DELAYS
Also Thursday, the ERC directed the
NGCP to explain the delays in its transmission projects.
Commissioner-in-Charge Floresinda G. Baldo-Digal told BusinessWorld on Viber Thursday: “We have directed the NGCP to explain in detail the changes in the timeline and the events or activities that led to the modification of the transmission projects’ completion. The NGCP’s explanation will shed light on the status and reason/s for the delay of the completion of the 33 transmission projects that we have already approved,” she said, quoting ERC Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer Agnes VST Devanadera.
In February, the NGCP reported that the Mindanao-Visayas Interconnection Project (MVIP) may not be completed by the end-2021 target date after damage to the submarine cables.
The completion date of the MVIP had been pushed back due to travel restrictions. — Angelica Y. Yang with Bianca Angelica D. Añago
DOE expects 'compliance' with pandemic-related policies amid Luzon grid woes
Published June 3, 2021, 9:14 AM by Ellson Quismorio
The Department of Energy (DOE) has stressed that it wants “compliance” from power plants, distribution utilities (DUs), and other industry players when it comes to the rules it is implementing amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
“So, whether all these [rules] were violated or complied with, we are gathering pieces of evidence because ano bang gusto ng Department of Energy? Penalty ba? Hindi, ang gusto natin compliance (What does the Department of Energy want? Penalties? No, we want compliance),” he said during a televised interview Wednesday, June 2.
“Pero kung patuloy ang hindi pag-comply, wala tayong magagawa (But if the non-compliance continues, we have no choice). We have to impose the discipline that is necessary because at the end of the day, consumers are suffering,” noted Fuentebella, who is the department’s spokesperson.
“Dagdag ito sa parusa na dinadaanan natin sa panahong may COVID nga tayo (This just adds to the burden that we’re experiencing during this time of COVID),” he said.
“Dahil nga panahon ng COVID ngayon at kailangan po natin na bantayan iyong refrigeration, iyong pagpapalamig, storage ng ating bakuna eh tinitingnan natin iyong [DUs] kung nakatutok sila at napuproteksiyunan kung nasaan iyong mga vaccines (And because we’re in the time of COVID, we’re looking at the DUs if they’ve been able to protect the vaccines in terms of refrigeration and storage),” he added.
The Luzon grid–operated by private firm National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP)–has been slipping in and out of “red alert” status since Monday.
This is due to the reduced grid capacity stemming from the outages of several power plants, some of which were expected (e.g. from a scheduled maintenance shutdown), while some weren’t (e.g. from a recently discovered damage within the plant).
Fuentebella mentioned some of DOE’s key rules and policies when it comes to the generation companies.
“Rule number one: Bawal mag-preventive maintenance dito sa panahon ng April, May at June except for hydropower dahil walang tubig. So, iyong mga hydropower plants puwede kayong mag-maintenance, kayo lang (It’s prohibited to have a preventive maintenance during the months of April, May, and June, except for hydropower plants which don’t have as much water at this time. So, only hydropower plants are allowed to undergo maintenance).”
There’s also the Grid Operating and Maintenance Program (GOMP), he said.
“Isa-submit ninyo lahat sa NGCP ang inyong preventive maintenance schedule at isa-submit ng NGCP sa [DOE] sa October 31 iyong grid operating maintenance na schedule ng mga planta…kapag hindi na-submit on time, kailangan pa nating aprubahan or i-check kung ito ay compliant sa ating mga rules (All the preventive maintenance schedules will be submitted to the NGCP, which would then submit the plants’ grid operating maintenance schedules to the DOE by October 31…failure to submit on time means they must be approved first or checked with the rules for compliance),” he said.
“Pangatlo, nandiyan ba iyong required ancillary services na sinisiguro nating mayroong reserba (Third, there are the ancillary services which ensure reserve power),” Fuentebella further said.
He said the DOE had specified that the buildings that would be used to store COVID-19 jabs must have their own generator sets. This measure is supposed to protect the vaccines from the effects of brownouts.
Fuentebella said the agency is conferring with the Department of Justice (DOJ) to find out if the problems on generation necessitate the filing of criminal charges.
“Puwede bang nagkaroon ng krimen dito sa mga hindi pagsunod sa polisiya ng [DOE] dahil puwede na naman itong mangyari next year at anong mangyayari next year? Eh, may eleksiyon tayo tapos mayroon pa tayong inaasikasong COVID at marami pang puwedeng maging challenges sa atin (Was there a crime with the non-compliance of DOE’s policies? Because this can happen again next year. We will have the elections amid COVID and we might face additional challenges),” he said.
“Para tayo ay laging handa eh ngayon pa lamang eh lahat ng puwede nating makita for a room for improvement ay ina-address na po natin (To ensure readiness, we are now addressing everything that we can improve on),” the DOE official said.
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