ERC probes power woes
Nd The Visayas grid, on the other hand, went under yellow alert from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. and a red alert from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Although the Luzon and Visayas grids have been in jeopardy for three consecutive days due to the limited power supply, government regulators have yet to determine the entities accountable for the failing power plants.
The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) announced on Thursday that it will formally investigate potential violations of local regulations that contributed to the prolonged shutdown of power plants, which significantly reduced the power grid’s supply.
“As a matter of course, we collate information and review the reports from the affected stakeholders to come up with a preliminary analysis of the cause or causes of the incidents,” ERC chairperson and CEO Monalisa C. Dimalanta said.
“Based on our findings, we will formalize the investigation to determine compliance or non-compliance by the relevant stakeholders and implement appropriate measures to impose penalties for any lapses and address issues that may have contributed to the adverse situation,” she added.
Dimalanta said the ERC has mandated all power plant operators to submit their respective timelines for the resumption of their operations and vowed to monitor their timely compliance.
As the designated state-run power watchdog, the ERC is responsible for evaluating relevant stakeholders’ performance to ensure they comply with reporting obligations, uphold technical and maintenance standards, and follow permissible outage restrictions.
In a separate statement, the Department of Energy (DoE) urged consumers to reduce their power consumption, particularly during peak hours, for the rest of the hot season. Energy consumption tends to increase on hot days as consumers rely on cooling appliances.
Nonetheless, the DoE said it will continue to work with the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) and all generation companies until the power supply returns to normal in both the Luzon and Visayas grids.
For the third straight day, the NGCP placed Luzon and the Visayas under yellow and red alerts. As of 5 p.m. on Thursday, 42 power units were either on forced outage or were de-rated, slashing a total capacity of 2,588 megawatts (MW) from both grids as of 8 this morning.
Luzon Island, including Metro Manila, was placed under red alert from 3 to 4 p.m. and 8 to 9 p.m. Meanwhile, a yellow alert was raised between 1 and 3 p.m., 4 and 8 p.m., and 10 and 11 p.m.
The Visayas grid, on the other hand, underwent a yellow alert from 1 to 9 p.m. and a red alert from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.
The NGCP, as the lone transmission operator, started to raise the alarm about the tight power supply on Tuesday, 16 April. However, an initial report released by the ERC showed that before that day, around 27 power units already experienced outages in Luzon.
Four of these were planned outages, while 23 were unplanned or forced outages from March to April.
Among the units on unplanned outage, eight were out due to equipment-related or non-fuel issues, while 15 attributed the outage to fuel issues.
On Tuesday, an additional 14 units went down — one as per scheduled maintenance, and the rest, or 13, were on unplanned or forced outages.
Five of the latter 13 units’ outages were due to equipment or non-fuel causes, while eight reported fuel issues due to insufficient water levels.
The report showed that in the Visayas, 13 units were already out before last Tuesday, one of which was on planned or scheduled maintenance, while 12 were on unplanned or forced outages throughout March to April.
Among the units on unplanned outage, seven reported equipment or non-fuel issues, while four attributed the outage to fuel issues.
By Tuesday, an additional 12 units were down, with one down due to scheduled maintenance and the rest, or 11, down due to unplanned or forced outages. Nine of these units were down due to equipment or non-fuel causes, while two reported fuel issues.
As of yesterday morning, NGCP data showed that Luzon had an available capacity of 13,397 megawatts (MW), while peak demand was logged at 12,892 MW. This left only 505 MW of operating margin.
Meanwhile, the available capacity in the Visayas as of yesterday afternoon was logged at 2,662 MW, while peak demand was recorded at 2,465 MW, which meant that the margin was thin at 197 MW.
A yellow alert is issued when the operating margin is insufficient to meet the transmission grid’s regulating and contingency requirements. When this status is in place, all power plants must run normally; otherwise, a red alert may be raised.
A red alert, on the other hand, is issued when supply becomes insufficient to meet consumer demand and the transmission grid’s regulating requirement.