Dwindling power reserves Monday, May 31 caused the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) to declare "red alert" and "yellow alert" status over the Luzon grid, it was learned from the Department of Energy (DOE).
A statement from the DOE Monday bared that the Luzon grid was alternately placed on red and yellow alert status throughout the day.
The northern islands were on yellow allert from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., and again starting 4 p.m. Meanwhile, red alert was observed from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. The NGCP is the system operator of the Luzon grid.
According to the DOE, the total projected available capacity Monday was 11,729 megawatts (MW), while the projected system peak demand was 11,514 MW--a difference of only 215 MW.
The department said power plants in the Luzon grid were affected by unplanned outages equivalent to 435 MW and planned/ forced outages reaching 1,285 MW. There was also a total major derating of 484 MWs, the DOE said.
The NGCP reportedly considered the implementation of manual load dropping (MLD) in several areas in the country, including Metro Manila, during the red alert period in a bid to maintain the integrity of the power system.
In order to address the high system demand in the Luzon grid brought about by the increased temperature this summer, the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) called on ts interruptible load program (ILP) participants to voluntarily deload from the grid during the red alert.
As of 1:30 p.m. 86 participating establishments confirmed willingness to deload under ILP, This was equivalent to a capacity of 168 MW.
Meralco, the country’s largest power distributor, services Metro Manila and nearby cities.