Luzon and Visayas grids to be placed on red, yellow alerts

The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines said Tuesday Luzon and Visayas grids will be placed on red and yellow alert.

According to the NGCP, the Luzon grid will alternately be on yellow and red alert.

Here is the schedule:

Yellow alert

• 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.
• 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.
• 9 p.m. to 11 p.m.

Red Alert

• 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
• 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

The Luzon grid has available capacity of 13,537MW and has a peak demand of 13,024MW.

NGCP said 19 power plants are on forced outage, while three others are running on derated capacities, for a total of 2,117.3MW unavailable to the grid.

The Visayas grid, on the other hand, will be on yellow alert from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.

It has available capacity of 2,742MW and peak demand of 2,440MW.

At least 12 power plants are on forced outage, while five others are running on derated capacities, for a total of 676.5MW unavailable to the grid.

NGCP said a red alert status is issued when power supply is insufficient to meet consumer demand and the transmission grid’s regulating requirement.

Meanwhile, a yellow alert is issued when the operating margin is insufficient to meet the transmission grid’s contingency requirement.

In a statement, the Department of Energy said it is closely monitoring and coordinating, through Electric Power Industry Management Bureau (EPIMB), with the NGCP and all generation companies on the current power supply condition.

Specifically, it is closely coordinating with all power stakeholders to ensure that appropriate measures are taken to minimize the impact.

Earlier this month, the DOE said the power sector is implementing measures to avoid possible power interruptions amid the impact of the El Niño phenomenon and dry season on the country.

DOE Assistant Secretary Mario Marasigan also said the agency is not seeing any possible rotational power interruptions at present.

The Energy Department said it instructed all distribution utilities (DUs), including the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) and electric cooperatives (ECs), to activate their Interruptible Load Program (ILP) to help reduce the overall demand in the grid.

"Although this is the first time that a red alert in Luzon has been declared after almost a year, it is important that everyone remains vigilant during this extreme hot season," it said.

It directed government agencies, industrial, and commercial establishments to minimize the use of power during peak hours.

“While we continue to monitor and ask our power plant operators to work on restoring full operations, we can maximize our energy efficiency efforts as we go through this period of extreme heat. Flexible work arrangements and other conservation measures would also be helpful. The extremely high temperatures have been affecting the operations of power plants in the grid,” Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla said..

He also encouraged the public to minimize the use of electricity during peak hours by turning off lights and unplugging appliances when not in use, and avoiding use of high-energy consuming devices such as air conditioning units.—AOL, GMA Integrated News