MANILA, Philippines — For the fourth straight day on Friday (April 19), grid operator National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) will raise red and yellow alerts in Luzon and Visayas as more than 30 power plants are unavailable.
In a statement sent to reporters, NGCP said a red alert will be up in the Luzon grid from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Before this, a yellow alert will be raised on the country’s largest island from 12 noon to 3 p.m., 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., and 10 p.m. to 11 p.m.
In the Visayas, NGCP issued a yellow alert status from 12 noon to 4 p.m. and from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
READ: Luzon, Visayas grids still on red and yellow alerts on Thursday
NGCP explained a red alert status is issued when the power supply is insufficient to meet consumer demand and the transmission grid’s regulating requirement.
On the other hand, a yellow alert is issued when the operating margin is insufficient to meet the transmission grid’s contingency requirement.
ERC investigation
It said 2,284.3 megawatts (MW) of power supply is unavailable to the Luzon grid, with 19 power plants on forced outage and three others reduced their output.
READ: 1-hour outage looms in parts of Zambales due to thin supply
In the Visayas grid, 736.7MW of supply is unavailable as 15 power plants are offline while 10 others are running on derated capacities.
The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) said it is investigating the recent issuances of red and yellow alerts this week, hinting at the possibility of imposing penalties on parties that will be found responsible for the disruption of electricity supply in both regions.
“Based on our findings, we will formalize the investigation to determine compliance or noncompliance by the relevant stakeholders and implement appropriate measures to impose penalties,” ERC chair Monalisa Dimalanta said in a statement on Thursday.
The regulatory agency, she said, is collating information and reviewing reports from NGCP and certain generation companies “to come up with a preliminary analysis of the cause or causes of the incidents.”