A Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) official on Tuesday, June 1, called on the concerned local government units (LGUs) to instill the necessary measures to ensure that coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines are kept in storage facilities with uninterrupted power supply or with stand-by generators.
DILG Undersecretary and Spokesperson Jonathan Malaya issued the warning on the heels of the red alert issued by the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) for Luzon where rotational brownouts will temporarily be imposed due to the increased power demand caused by hot weather.
“At this time of pandemic, vaccines are more valuable than gold and therefore contingency plans should be implanted soonest to mitigate the rotational brownouts being implemented by the NGCP,’’ Malaya said.
In a GMA News report, the NGCP said that electric consumers in Luzon may expect rotational brownouts in the first week of June amid thin power supply resulting from planned and unplanned outages of several power plants.
NGCP spokesperson Cynthia Alabanza said that the red and yellow alert statuses raised on the Luzon grid “will be continuing until the 7th (of June)” except on weekends where power demands are usually low.
The NGCP earlier placed the Luzon Grid under yellow alert from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m., from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m., and from 10 p.m. to 12 a.m. and red alert from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., indicating that there is zero ancillary services or a generation deficiency exists.
The agency added that the available capacity of the grid is at 11,408 megawatts (MW) while the peak demand is estimated at 11,593 MW.