Visayas power supply still tight

CEBU, Philippines — The Visayas Grid was placed under red alert status for the third consecutive day on Wednesday, August 12, amid tight power supply caused by the unavailability of several large power plants and reduced power imports from the Mindanao Grid.

The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), in its 1:30 p.m. update, said the red alert was extended from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m., while yellow alert was declared from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. and from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Available capacity stood at 2,191 megawatts (MW) against a peak demand forecast of 2,420 MW.

NGCP earlier announced a red alert from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. and a yellow alert from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. to 10 p.m., based on its 7 a.m. update. At that time, available capacity was 2,153 MW against a peak demand of 2,394 MW.

NGCP said seven plants were on forced outage as of August, while 14 other plants were operating at derated capacities. These resulted in a total of 932.4 MW of unavailable capacity.

The grid operator identified the unavailability of Visayas’ large coal plants TVI 1, TVI 2 and CEDC 1 as among the factors behind the alerts.

It also cited limited power imports from Mindanao due to the maintenance outage of GNPK 2, the emergency shutdown of GNPK 1 because of a boiler tube leak, and high forecasted system demand.

The extension of the red alert was also attributed to an increase in the demand forecast and the unavailability of PDPP3-C and PDPP3-G.

NGCP said a red alert is issued when power supply is insufficient to meet consumer demand and the transmission grid’s regulating requirement. A yellow alert, meanwhile, is declared when the operating margin is insufficient to meet the transmission grid’s contingency requirement.

NGCP also warned that Manual Load Dropping (MLD) may be implemented in parts of the Visayas from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m., including areas served by Visayan Electric, Mactan Electric Company (MECO), and Cebu Electric Cooperative I, II and III.

The possible MLD is due to the non-availability of imported power from the Mindanao Grid. NGCP said the schedule may be cancelled if system conditions improve, such as when actual demand falls below projections.

Meanwhile, Visayan Electric said limited generation across the Visayas Grid continues because of the non-availability of imported power from Mindanao.

The distribution utility said a scheduled one-hour rotational brownout was being implemented to balance available power supply with current demand and maintain grid stability.

Among the Cebu areas included in the rotational brownout schedules released by Visayan Electric were portions of Cebu City, Mandaue City, Talisay City, Minglanilla, Consolacion, Liloan and Naga City.

The scheduled outages cover different areas on a one-hour rotation from 1 p.m. through 8 p.m., with affected areas varying by schedule.

Visayan Electric said it continues to monitor the situation and coordinate with NGCP, adding that any changes to the rotational brownout schedule will be announced through its official communication channels.

NGCP urged consumers to exercise prudence in using electricity as the Visayas Grid remains under tight supply conditions. — /FPL (FREEMAN)