Amid maintenance shutdown of Malampaya in February
MANILA, Philippines — There will be sufficient power supply in February next year even as the Malampaya deep water gas-to-power project undergoes a two-week maintenance shutdown, according to the Department of Energy (DOE).
The agency said it is more worried about supply in the summer months of 2023, when thin power reserves are expected to be met with higher demand.
In a virtual press briefing, Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla said the Malampaya deep water gas-to-power project is scheduled to undergo a regular maintenance shutdown from Feb. 4 to 18 next year.
“So during this period, the supply of gas will temporarily stop and will lead the power plants to switch to alternative sources of fuel and of course, we are working with all parties concerned on contingent measures that ensure a steady supply to the grid in Luzon,” Lotilla said.
According to Lotilla, the regular maintenance activity has been closely coordinated with the DOE and other relevant stakeholders to ensure that the Malampaya facilities and equipment operate in a safe, reliable and efficient manner to avoid incidents that can potentially impact the continuous supply of gas to the customer power plants.
The scheduled maintenance was originally set in October as a follow-up scheduled maintenance to execute work planned in 2021, which were impacted by COVID-19 travel restrictions that prevented the deployment of foreign specialists.
The schedule, however, was moved to the first quarter of 2023 to avoid the 2022 typhoon season that can potentially cause start-up delays as experienced in 2021.
“This time it has to be done because if we delay it further, it may not run the way it is supposed to run. Remember, our main priority is safety, reliability and efficiency,” DOE Undersecretary Rowena Cristina Guevara said.
Similar to previous years, the DOE said the shutdown may result in higher power prices as the use of alternative fuels, distillates or condensates cost more than Malampaya natural gas.
“As we have seen in the past, there is an increase because alternative fuel costs more. So over the 20-year life of Malampaya so far, we’ve had several of this maintenance periods. We were able to get through the temporary increase,” Lotilla said.
“Of course, we pray and hope that the international prices of liquid oil fuels will go down further in the next year or during February and in the summer months so that we can tide over the country or Luzon grid in particular,” the DOE chief added.
To ensure the continuous supply of power in February, the DOE is working with all concerned parties on several contingency measures, including the designation of “must run” plants.
A must run status means that the concerned power plant must supply electricity to the grid under all conditions.
The DOE is also closely coordinating with Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), other distribution utilities and retail electricity suppliers to activate and expand the Interruptible Load Program (ILP) to help soften the impact whenever supply deficiency and power interruptions are imminent in the grid.
The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines is likewise accelerating completion of transmission lines in the Luzon grid and is asked to implement a day-ahead announcement of red and yellow alerts.
Further, large users will be encouraged for own-use generation, while an accelerated campaign for energy efficiency and conservation for industrial, commercial, governmental and residential consumers is being pursued.
The DOE, however, is more concerned about supply from April to July 2023 than in February when the Malampaya is on maintenance shutdown.
From April to June, Guevera warned that margins would be thin and could lead to possibilities of having yellow and even red alerts.
“There is generation margin in February so we are not worried about this part, but we’re more worried in summer. So starting April up to July, that’s when we are a little bit worried,” Guevara said.
“But for February, we do not see the possibility of yellow alerts, which is why we are confident on the February shutdown of Malampaya plant for maintenance. We can say that we have enough generation margin for the month of February even when Malampaya is down,” she added.
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.