LUZON, VISAYAS GRIDS ON YELLOW ALERT ON TUESDAY

The Luzon and Visayas grids will be placed on yellow alert again on Tuesday, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) said in separate advisories.

According to the NGCP, the Luzon grid will be placed on yellow alert from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. for having available peak capacity of 14,950 megawatts (MW) against a peak demand of 13,902 MW.

The NGCP said the Luzon grid has a total of 1,369.3 MW unavailable power due to four plants that have been on forced outage since 2023, three between January and March 2024, 13 since April 2024, and one running on a derated capacity.

Meanwhile, the Visayas grid will be on yellow alert from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. and from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. The grid has an available capacity of 2,881 MW against peak demand of 2,580 MW.

"[One] plant has been on forced outage since 2022, 2 since 2023, 2 between January and March 2024, and 15 power plants are on forced outage, while 8 are running on derated capacities, for a total of 571.9MW unavailable to the grid," the NGCP said of Visayas grid.

A yellow alert is issued when the operating margin is insufficient to meet the transmission grid’s contingency requirement.

Minority lawmakers in the House of Representatives are calling for a congressional inquiry into the red and yellow power alerts in Luzon and Visayas grids due to the unplanned outages of over 32 power plants.

House Deputy Minority Leader France Castro of ACT party-list, House Assistant Minority Leader Arlene Brosas of Gabriela party-list, and Kabataan party-list lawmaker Raoul Manuel made the call under their House Resolution 1690.

"It is imperative to conduct a thorough investigation into the actions of generation companies during plant failures, to determine the extent of their responsibility in the current energy crisis and to hold them accountable for any exploitative practices that harm consumers," the lawmakers said in their resolution.

"There is a pressing need to shift the burden of higher power rates onto generation companies during outages, ensuring that they bear the cost of disruptions and preventing them from passing on these costs to consumers, thereby safeguarding consumer rights and promoting fair practices in the energy sector," they added.

The Department of Energy (DOE) earlier said the April 2024 unplanned outages in over 32 power plants was record-setting, with 1,811 megawatts of power lost, more than double the previous average of 700 megawatts lost in years 2019 to 2023. —KBK, GMA Integrated News

 

This article Luzon, Visayas grids on yellow alert on Tuesday was originally published in GMA News Online.

2024-04-30T03:02:42Z dg43tfdfdgfd