DOE sees stable power supply despite El Niño

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Energy (DOE) expects stable power supply during the summer months despite the El Niño phenomenon, with additional capacities planned to be injected during the period.

Power supply of the country’s three power grids is projected to remain normal and sufficient since El Niño’s impact will be minimal, DOE Undersecretary Felix William Fuentebella said yesterday.

“We are expecting a weak El Niño and that will have a minimal impact on the power grid,” he said.

DOE Assistant Secretary Redentor Delola said there are additional capacities coming on in the power grid to further augment supply during the critical months.

Nearly 1,300 megawatts (MW) will be injected into the grid from new power plants.

Luzon will have an additional 571.2 MW until July from the 150-MW coal fired power plant in Limay, Bataan; 5-MW biomass plant in Isabela; 300-MW coal-fired power plant in Masinloc, Zambales; 1.2-MW FQBG biomass plant; and 115-MW solar plant in Conception, Tarlac.

These additional capacities will augment the Luzon power supply when two big power plants undergo maintenance until April.

From April 5 to June 13, reserve will be below the required dispatchable reserve level, which would lead to a yellow alert status on the grid.

A yellow alert means there is not enough reserves to cover the largest running generating unit at the time but does not necessarily lead to power outages.

“We are expecting 600 to 700 MW will be reduced from the grid from March to June,” Delola said, arising from the shutdown of a 382-MW coal plant until April and a 300-MW coal plant until June.

In the Visayas, two 150-MW units of Therma Visayas Inc.’s coal power plant are expected to start operating by March and April.

Meanwhile, Mindanao will have additional capacity from unit 2 of the Sarangani Energy Corp. coal plant (150 MW) this month, unit 1 of GN Power Kauswagan coal plant (138 MW) in May, solar plant of Astroenergy Development Gensan Inc. (20 MW) in June and unit 2 of GN Power Kauswagan coal plant (138 MW) in July.

“We can say we’re confident that there will be no issues (in terms of power supply),” Delola said. “Even in election time, there is enough supply.”

To ensure enough supply during the midterm elections in May, the DOE has directed other power generators not to conduct preventive maintenance schedules a week before and after May 13.

“There’s a directive to power plants that one week prior and after elections, there will be a moratorium on maintenance,” Delola said.

For the year, the Luzon grid is expected to reach peak demand of 11,403 MW around May while 2,299 MW peak demand for the Visayas grid and 2,130 MW peak demand for the Mindanao grid are seen by November to December.

Last month, the DOE convened the Energy Task Force Election (ETFE) to begin preparations to ensure continuous and adequate power supply during the midterm elections.

ETFE has eight members, which include the NEA, National Power Corp., National Transmission Corp., Philippine National Oil Co., Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp., Philippine Electricity Market Corp., National Grid Corp. of the Philippines and the Manila Electric Co. There are six other supporting organizations also onboard.

The Task Force will work closely with the national security group composed of the National Security Council, Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine National Police, Bureau of Fire Protection and Philippine Coast Guard.

Forest fires

Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu has placed all 16 regional offices of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) on alert for forest fires in anticipation of the nationwide impact of El Niño.

Cimatu ordered the DENR offices to each conduct a region-wide forest assessment and update their respective forest protection plans in anticipation of the El Niño-induced drought, which could increase the risk of wildfires.

“Our teams should always be ready for deployment to suppress incidents of outbreaks, particularly grassfires, to prevent them from crossing over to forested areas and turn into full-blown forest fires,” Cimatu said.

The DENR cited the incident last Feb. 20, wherein a fire razed around 125 hectares of sloping forestland being rehabilitated by the Philex Mining Co. in Itogon, Benguet since 2014. Five Philex forestry workers perished in the 21-hour forest fire.

Cimatu said higher priority should be given to the vulnerable sites inside the protected areas as well as those that have been rehabilitated under the DENR’s Enhanced National Greening Program (ENGP).

Cimatu said the fire brigades in the ENGP sites are to be fully optimized with the manpower pool of 3,350 regular forest guards to be augmented by emergency workers hired under the program.

Cimatu also directed the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Offices and Community Environment and Natural Resources Offices to step up their information campaign and coordination with local government officials to increase community awareness and vigilance on preventing and fighting forest fires.

Meanwhile, the Mines and Geosciences Bureau was directed to review and closely monitor the compliance of mining companies with their approved Environmental Protection and Enhancement Program, which includes the conduct of forest fire prevention measures like establishment of firebreaks or buffer fire lines and inventory of all fire fighting tools.– With Elizabeth Marcelo