INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—The power situation in Luzon eased slightly this weekend but supply remains tight and the possibility of power outages remains, according to energy officials.
Mylene C. Capongcol, Department of Energy-Power Industry Management Bureau director, said in a text message: “Ilijan 2 maintenance is ongoing and there will be times its output would be zero.”
She said the grid may be on “yellow alert” compared to Satuday’s “red alert” which indicates a power supply deficiency.
Yellow alert indicates that the total reserve is less than the capacity of the largest plant on line. For the Luzon grid, this is usually equivalent to 647 megawatts (MW), or the capacity of one unit of the Sual coal-fired power plant of TeaM Energy Corp. in Pangasinan.
Unit 2 of Kepco Ilijan Corp.’s gas-fired power plant in Batangas City, with a nominal capacity of about 635 MW, is scheduled to come back online before the Monday morning peak, according to energy officials.
If for some reason Ilijan 2 fails to resume operations, the Luzon grid will stay on “yellow alert,” which means there would be power outages in certain areas if another major power plant bogs down.
Yesterday, rotating brownouts were implemented in three-hour periods in the franchise area of the Manila Electric Co. A red alert was raised on Saturday, prompting advisories on rotating outages from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The situation eased on Saturday morning when the Calaca coal-fired power plant of DMCI Power Corp. in Batangas (with a nominal capacity of 300 MW) came back online. It had been going on and off on Friday night.
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