Luzon grid placed on yellow alert

MANILA, Philippines (Philippines New Agency) – The Luzon grid was placed on yellow alert on Tuesday due to the forced outage of the 300-megawatt (MW) Ilijan Block 2 and the 122-MW South Luzon Thermal Energy, it was announced by Luzon's largest distribution utility Manila Electric Company (Meralco).

According to the distribution utility, the yellow alert status is raised from 9:01 a.m. until 4 p.m. This is likely the first yellow alert of the month.

The Pangilinan-led firm also said the following power plants are on shutdown: 382-MW Pagbilao coal unit 2; 300-MW Malaya oil thermal unit 1; 350-MW Malaya oil thermal unit 2; and 50-MW Angat hydro unit 2. Coal-fired Calaca, on the other hand, was derated from 200 MW to 180 MW.

It also called on its customers to practice energy efficiency to prevent rotating brownouts.

Meanwhile, Meralco assured that its interruptible load program participants are prepared to de-load their consumption through the use of generator sets.

Meralco has around 5.8 million customers.