Luzon grid alert raised to red; yellow in Visayas

MANILA, Philippines —  The Luzon and Visayas grids were placed on red and yellow alerts, respectively, by the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) yesterday as 38 power plants were on forced outage.

The NGCP raised the alert levels on the two grids as their power supplies were observed to be thin in relation to the consumers’ total demand.

The Luzon grid was placed under red alert from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. and from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. yesterday, according to the NGCP.

In an announcement earlier yesterday, the NGCP placed the Luzon grid under yellow alert from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. and from 10 p.m. to midnight.

The available power capacity in the Luzon grid was at 12,832 megawatts while peak demand stood at 12,671 MW.

The NGCP issues red alert when the operating margin is insufficient to meet the transmission grid’s contingency requirement.

A yellow alert is raised when power supply is not sufficient to meet consumer demand and the transmission grid’s regulating requirement, according to the NGCP.

The NGCP said 18 power plants in the Luzon grid were on forced outage while two more operated on derated capacities, resulting in a total of 1,518.9 MW unavailable supply to the grid.

The Visayas grid was placed on yellow alert from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. and had an available capacity of 2,742 MW and a peak demand of 2,571 MW yesterday.

The NGCP said 20 power plants were on a forced outage while nine power plants were on derated capacities in the Visayas grid.

These resulted in a total of 604.4 MW unavailable power supply to the grid, according to the NGCP.

The NGCP lifted the alerts on both the Luzon and Visayas grids on Saturday after their operations returned to normal.

Last week, the two grids were placed on red and yellow alerts, respectively, as power supply was observed to be thin and insufficient to meet consumer demand.

The Department of Energy earlier said the country needs more in the future to avoid grids being placed on red and yellow alert.