Meralco to procure additional power supply for summer 2023

MANILA, Philippines — Power utility giant Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) is targeting to procure 180 megawatts (MW) of baseload supply and 300 MW of peaking requirements to beef up its electricity supply during next year’s dry months.

Meralco head of regulatory management Jose Ronald Valles said the company is  preparing for the summer months of next year.

He said Meralco has plans to conduct competitive selection process (CSP) for 180-MW baseload and 300-MW peaking power to cover the summer months of 2023.

“We have identified so far 180-MW of baseload and 300-MW of peaking requirements that we will be submitting to the Department of Energy (DOE) for approval of the terms of reference,” Valles said.

Meralco last February contracted the supply of 170-MW peaking power through a CSP to ensure availability of supply, which was then seen critical in the dry months and the national and local elections.

Last March, the company also sought bids for 180-MW supply to augment available supply during the summer months.

Thin power reserves usually occur in the country during the dry season or summer months when temperatures are higher and demand increases.

Based on the DOE’s power outlook for Luzon in a scenario with forced outage and without output from the Ilijan power plant, there is an expected occurrence of 17 yellow alerts and three red alerts for next year.

The red alerts are seen to occur in May and June peak months as capacity will fall below required regulating reserve.

For Visayas, the DOE said  there are possibilities of yellow alerts on the second half of 2023 due to stranded generating capacity while the uprating of the Cebu-Negros-Panay projects are not yet completed.

The agency said there would be tighter supply for the evening peak in Visayas in the second half, which brings high possibility of yellow alert and even red alerts.

A yellow alert will be raised when there are not enough reserves to cover the largest running generating unit at the time, but does not necessarily lead to power outages.

Red alert, on the other hand, is placed over the grid when the supply to demand balance further worsens, which can lead to rotating power interruptions.