Outages related to failure to expand the capacity of power plants

By means of Heroes Joy Talavera News reporter

THE MAIN ISLANDS of Luzon and the ViSayas faced red and yellow warnings for the third day in a row on Thursday as operating margins remained lowfficious to meet the regulatory requirements of the networks.

Analysts said the forced outages, which involved some aging power plants, were the result of the previous government’s inability to facilitate the construction of new power plants.

“This can be attributed to the inability of the previous government to facilitate new power plants. The uncertainty of power supply may discourage new investments, especially for energy-intensive industries,” Calixto V. Chikiamco, president of the Foundation for Economic Freedom, said in a Viber message.

Jose M. Layug, Jr., president of the Developers of Renewable Energy for Advancement, Inc., said that over the past four years there have been forced outages of approximately 2,500 megawatts (MW) during the peak or summer months “primarily due to power outages” . factories that have been active for more than twenty years.”

“The previous government did not recognize the need to build more capacity and accordingly we are suffering from these red and yellow alerts,” Mr Layug said in a Viber message.

He said these forced shutdowns will reduce economic and business activities, which “will always have a negative impact on the economy.”

“Right now, the current DoE (Department of Energy) is doing its best to encourage investors to build more capacity,” he said.

However, regulators are still monitoring and gathering information to determine the cause of the power plant outage.

“The Department of Energy continues to closely monitor and work with the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) and all power utilities during this period of extreme heat when electricity consumption is at a record high,” the DoE said in a statement. Thursday.

In an advisory issued Thursday morning, the NGCP said the Luzon network was placed under red alert status from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Code yellow was also issued in the region from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM, from 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM and from 10:00 PM to 11:00 PM.

According to the grid operator, the available capacity on the grid was 13,397 MW, while peak demand was 12,892 MW.

“Nineteen power stations have been forcibly shut down, while one is operating at reduced capacity, leaving a total of 1,891.3 MW unavailable to the grid,” the NGCP said.

A yellow alert was placed on the Visayas network from 1:00 PM to 9:00 PM and later on red alert from 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM as of the 2:34 PM update.

During the period, available capacity was 2,410 MW, while peak demand was 2,354 MW.

“Thirteen power stations have been forcibly shut down, while nine others are operating at reduced capacity, leaving a total of 696.7 MW unavailable to the electricity grid,” the grid operator said.

Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) said that as of 12:00 noon, more than 400 MW of discharge capacity was available from its commercial and industrial customers.

Citing NGCP data, the DoE said both the Luzon and Visayas networks achieved the highest peak demand for the year so far.

RESEARCH
Monalisa C. Dimalanta, chairman and CEO of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), said they are reviewing reports from concerned stakeholders before coming up with a preliminary analysis of the incidents.

“Based on our findings, we will formalize the investigation to determine compliance or non-compliance by relevant stakeholders and implement appropriate measures to impose fines for any violations and address issues that may have contributed to the adverse situation” , Ms. Dimalanta said in a statement. .

As of 10 a.m. on April 18, about 1,179.52 MW of capacity had been restored in Luzon, while about 272.72 MW had been restored in the Visayas, according to the ERC.

A total of 2,671.95 MW capacity is still outstanding.

“We have directed power plant operators to submit their estimated timelines for the resumption of operations to the Commission, and we will continue to monitor their timely compliance,” Ms. Dimalanta said.

“We are fully aware of the difficulties posed by these outages and reaffirm our commitment to a thorough investigation,” she added.

Amid the continued red and yellow alerts, the DoE reiterated its call for the public’s cooperation in “minimizing power consumption, especially during peak hours during the remainder of the hot season.”

Alexander D. Ablaza, president of the Philippine Energy Efficiency Alliance, Inc., said the shift to more energy-efficient technologies such as solar thermal cooling is possible instead of “routinely relying on energy conservation efforts.” ”

“Although energy conservation is the behavior most easily promoted to mitigate the effects of power shortages, it may not be the easiest behavior for energy end users, as their quality of life and productivity are compromised,” he said in a statement speech. Viber message.