Luzon grid on brink of brownouts again

By Myrna Velasco

With the extended forced outage of the Sual coal-fired power plant, Luzon grid was placed on three-hour red alert again on Monday, April 15, indicating that power supply in the grid is still wobbly and consumers could be hit with rotating brownouts once again.

System operator National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) placed the grid on ‘red alert’ from 1:01 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. which is the afternoon peak of usage of consumers because of sweltering weather temperatures.

“Red alert” is that condition in the grid when power reserve is being crushed to zero or negative levels, meaning if any of the other plant trips, there’s already a deficiency in supply thus rotating brownouts are being implemented.

Throughout the day, “yellow alert” declaration was also set for three durations: from 9:01 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.; then from 4:01p.m. to 5:00 p.m.; and from 6:01 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. This condition still indicates precarious power supply situation in the grid.

The Department of Energy (DOE) itself warned that depending on system conditions, the occurrence of power interruptions or rotating brownouts within the three-hour red alert window is possible.

This is already the fourth time this month that a ‘red alert’ situation had been raised in the biggest power grid of the country – a situation that is not only afflicting individual consumers but the Philippine economy in general.

Three other plants are still on unplanned outages: including unit 2 of SMC Consolidated Power Corporation of the San Miguel group; Unit 2of Southwest Luzon Power Generation Corporation of the Consunji Group; and Unit-3 Pagbilao plant of the Aboitiz Group and TeaM Energy Corporation.

In the forecast of NGCP, demand during the ‘red alert’ hours will climb to as high as 10,619 megawatts versus available capacity of 10,669MW; and that power supply-demand situation could leave Luzon grid with a negative reserve of 362MW.

On the part of Manila Electric Company (Meralco), it has been counting on the support of the interruptible loads or those end-users with their own generating sets to help ease supply situation in the grid.

The DOE further emphasized that “any additional forced outage or de-rating of plants will worsen the situation,” but it is similarly leaning on the interruptible loads as well as consumers’ participation on saving energy as the measure to save the power grid from new round of blackouts.

“To avert the possibility of power interruptions during the red alert status, the energy family will implement the interruptible load program (ILP),” the department has reiterated.

Luzon grid has installed capacity of 16,133 megawatts; and the dependable capacity level stands at 14,646MW. At the rate of lost capacity in the system due to forced outages and plants’ de-rating which could sum up in the range of 1,500 to 1,750MW and the highest demand in the system ranging from 10,600 to 10,700MW as seen in recent weeks this summer, the grid could still have had comfortable reserve of more than 2,100 to 2,200MW – but no explanation is being provided yet on such scale of lost capacity.

In a statement, the Philippine Independent Power Producers Association Inc. (PIPPA) stipulated that its member-generation companies (GenCos) “are working doubly hard and exerting best efforts to supply and produce enough electricity.”

It added that the GenCos with forced outages “are trying to address the problems and are committed to be fully functional as soon as their issues are resolved in compliance with the directive and mandate of the DOE.

The group of GenCos cannot do as much for now but to appeal for public patience; while also promising transparency in the release of submission of real-time data to the relevant entities and agencies.

https://business.mb.com.ph/2019/04/15/luzon-grid-on-brink-of-brownouts-again/