DOE expects adequate power supply next year

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Energy (DOE) expects adequate power supply in the country next year, with no red or yellow alerts potentially taking place despite the El Niño phenomenon.

“Based on our projections and our assumptions that we will have a 70 percent deration of hydro capacity, and that major transmission projects will be in place by next year, and that forced outages are within that limit, then we will have no yellow or red alerts for next year with the assumption that the El Nino will be until the second quarter of 2024,” DOE director for electric power industry management bureau Irma Exconde said in a briefing yesterday.

Exconde said there are several solar power plants with a combined capacity of between 700 to 1,000 megawatts coming in by next year, which will be favorable under an El Niño scenario.

“From the supply side, we are looking at adequate levels,” Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla said.

“But even if these are adequate, we are also anticipating that there might be interruptions where the plants, especially the coal-fired power plants, will not be working at their optimal levels,” he said

Lotilla explained that coal-fired power plants usually encounter challenges everytime the El Niño months coincide with the hot summer months.

“That’s why we are working closely with the private sector owners of these coal fired power plants because historically, they encounter problems when temperature rises,” the energy chief said.

The DOE said it has  been monitoring the country’s hydro power facilities as part of the preparation for El Niño and had assumed 70 percent deration of these plants, particularly the large ones in Luzon and Mindanao.

“Our challenge this El Niño is we need to run all sources of power that are available to us during this period,” Lotilla said.

“Especially towards the second quarter of 2024, we are making sure that all the non-hydro plants are working at their best,” he said.

Lotilla said the country doesn’t depend so much on hydroelectric power plants during the second quarter of the year because water supply cannot run hydro electric plants to the maximum during this period.

“Diversification is very important at this point, including natural gas. That’s why we want to make sure that the supply contracts for the fuel and power produced from the natural gas plants will be available for our people,” he said.