Power situation in Luzon back to normal

MANILA, Philippines - The power situation went back to normal yesterday after the Luzon grid suffered from three-hour rotating outages, but the situation remains precarious as several power plants are expected to go on scheduled maintenance shutdown between now and November.

“All circuits were energized by 9:20 p.m. (Saturday night),” said Larry Fernandez, head of Utility Economics of Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), the country’s biggest power distributor.

Data from the power firm showed that at least four power plants are expected to go on scheduled maintenance shutdown.

Unit 2 of Team Energy’s Pagbilao Plant in Quezon will go on scheduled shutdown from July 19 to Aug. 3 or for 16 days, affecting 375 megawatts. Unit 2 of its Sual coal-fired power plant in Pangasinan will also go on maintenance shutdown from Aug. 3 to Sept. 1 or for 29 days, affecting 647 MW.

The Lopez Group’s Sta. Rita and San Lorenzo plants will go on scheduled shutdowns as follows: Sta. Rita Module 20, Sept. 6 to 10 affecting 250 MW; San Lorenzo Module 50, Oct. 25 to 29 affecting 250 MW; Sta. Rita Module 30, Nov. 1 to Nov. 5, affecting 250 MW; and San Lorenzo Module 60, from Nov. 8 to 12, affecting 250 MW.

On Saturday, parts of Luzon experienced rotating power interruptions lasting up to three hours due to supply deficiency brought about by the unavailability mainly of the Ilijan natural gas power plant in Batangas, owned and operated by Kepco Philippines Inc.

The Ilijan plant had to undergo ‘pigging’ (Pipeline Inspection Gauge) activities, which intends to eliminate accumulated deposits.

The deposits affect the overall productivity of the facility, according to the energy department. The process will clean the nearly 15-kilometer pipeline of the plant, which originates all the way from the Malampaya platform.

The Ilijan plant is one of the three natural gas plants supplying 30 to 40 percent of Luzon’s energy requirements.