DOE probes Sual plant’s unscheduled shutdown

The Department of Energy (DOE) has sent a team to the Sual power station in Pangasinan to assess the restoration of its generating units that went offline due to an unscheduled shutdown on Monday morning.

Sual—the largest coal-fired power plant in the country with a total generating capacity of 1,294 megawatts—saw its output cut in half on Feb. 6, 2017, but the slack in electricity supply for the Luzon grid was taken up by the government-operated Malaya power station, thus avoiding a shortage.

“We need to make Team Sual aware that we are checking on them and all the others,” Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said in a statement, as he announced an investigation into the sudden shutdown of one of the plant’s two units.

Sual Unit 2 went online at 5:21 a.m. while Sual Unit 1 went offline at 10:15 a.m. Monday, due to a possible condenser tube leak. The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) assured the public, however, that the power situation in Luzon remained manageable.

Aside from verifying reports, DOE wants to ensure the safety and reliability of the plant.

The secretary said that, in general, audit teams must push and convince plant operators to procure quality materials to achieve a higher level of performance.

NGCP, the operator of the country’s electricity grid, said power supply was still normal despite Sual’s generation reduction.

Based on the most recent update of NGCP, the Luzon grid had a net reserve of 1,089 megawatts during Tuesday’s afternoon demand peak.

“Sual Unit 2 is running at 647 megawatts and Malaya TPP Unit 2 will be utilized at minimum stable capacity of 130 megawatts to maintain normal system conditions,” the energy department said.