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The Luzon grid has been experiencing inadequate power supply, which has resulted in red and yellow alerts. The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines said that the grid was placed under red alert from 1 p.m. up to midnight of June 2, 2024, and under yellow alert from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on June 1 due to the forced outage of several power plants.
Current Grid Status
The NGCP noted that the capacity in the Luzon grid was 12,706 MW while the peak demand was 11,995 MW. The distinction between alerts is crucial: A red alert means that the available power supply is inadequate to meet the consumer demand and the grid regulation needs while a yellow alert implies that the power margin is inadequate to handle the grid transmission contingencies.
Power Plant Outages and Capacity Issues
The crisis resulted from the outage of Ilijan Block A & B with a capacity of 1,200 MW. This has been exacerbated by the fact that two power plants have been on forced outage for the past year, three in January to March, 13 in April and May while eight are currently operating on partial capacities. In total, 3,482. However, 3MW were not available to the grid, putting pressure on the power supply.
Meralco’s Response and Public Advisory
In view of these developments, the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) informed its customers that there might be rotational outages of up to two hours. In response to the incident, Meralco’s spokesperson and head of corporate communications, Joe Zaldarriaga, said, “We asked our commercial and industrial customers to reduce their electricity consumption to prevent overload on the power grid.”
By 2:00 PM of June 1,2024, a total of 200MW of de-loading capacity under the interruptible load program had been secured. Zaldarriaga called for the public to keep on practicing energy saving and efficiency during these trying times.
Previous Alerts and Ongoing Challenges
The Luzon grid has experienced the same problem in the recent days with the red alerts also being issued on Monday and Wednesday due to supply shortfall to the expected consumer demand. This ongoing challenge points to the urgent need for investment in infrastructure and enhanced management of power assets to guarantee reliable power supply in the region.
Conclusion
The power supply crisis in Luzon particularly highlights the vulnerability of the region’s power supply. As several power plants are on forced outage or running on low capacity, the NGCP and Meralco are doing their best to address the problem and limit its effects on the consumers. The public is still encouraged to embrace energy conservation and efficiency during this period.