Luzon grid placed on yellow alert anew

The Luzon grid was placed under yellow alert anew on Tuesday due to thinning reserves amid the unplanned shutdown of some power plants.

Department of Energy Assistant Secretary Redentor Delola confirmed to GMA News Online that the alert stays in place from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 4 p.m.

The alert was triggered by insufficient operating reserves when the following plants with a total capacity of 1,226 megawatts went on an unplanned shutdown, according to Delola:

• Masinloc 2 (344 MW)
• Pagbilao 1 (382 MW)
• SLTEC 1 (150 MW)
• Malaya 2 (350 MW)

A yellow alert is raised when reserve power is below the required level or if a grid has thin reserves based on the difference between supply and demand.

The Luzon grid's available capacity is 10,985 MW against an expected peak demand of 9,980 MW.

An alert, however, does not necessarily mean thin reserves would lead to outages. —KG, GMA News