DOE vows ‘adequate, reliable’ power supply on election day

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Energy (DOE) assured the public that power reserves remain normal despite the forced outages of a couple of power plants on the eve of the elections.

DOE Secretary Zenaida Monsada said in a press briefing on Sunday, May 8, that there are two power plants on forced outage – the 180-megawatt (MW) Kalayaan U4 until May 14, and the 300MW Malaya U1 until May 10.

Monsada emphasized, however, that the power reserves in Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao for May 9 are all expected to be above normal levels due to the low projected demand.

Since election day is a holiday, demand is forecasted to be lower compared with the demand on regular working days.

Monsada added that the Avion Gas Plant, which is currently undergoing commissioning, may inject 45MW of power to the grid.

Stepping up monitoring

The energy chief also said that the DOE-led Power Task Force Election (PTFE) has beefed up its monitoring to ensure adequate, stable, and reliable electricity supply for the polls.

The PTFE began its 24-hour monitoring of the status of power plants at noon on Sunday. The monitoring will continue until all votes are canvassed, according to Monsada.

For Luzon, demand is projected to reach 7,764MW against a capacity of 10,374MW. This leaves a reserve of 2,610MW.

The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) earlier warned that parts of Central Luzon may experience power outages after residents blocked clearing operations in the region.

In the Visayas and Mindanao, reserves are expected at 209MW and 235MW, respectively.

Monsada said contingency measures are in place should there be tripping of power plants.

Command centers

The tighter monitoring includes the setting up of regional command centers in North and South Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao, which all have links to substations in regional and district command centers.

For distribution utilities (DUs), the National Electrification Administration (NEA) has also set up command centers for electric cooperatives, while the National Power Corporation (Napocor) is monitoring the rural areas under the Small Power Utilities Group.

The nation’s biggest DU, Manila Electric Company (Meralco), also established its own command center and reported that 786MW were committed under the Interruptible Load Program (ILP). 

Monsada added that the Inter-Agency Task Force on Securing Energy Facilities (IATFSEF) goes beyond the polls to protect energy facilities, including transmission towers. – Rappler.com