DOE hopes for the best as Luzon reserves dwindle

Manila, Philippines – The Department of Energy (DOE) reported scheduled and unscheduled maintenance shutdowns for plants spread all over Luzon, resulting in a loss of 2,532 megawatts (MW) of power to service the grid.

Luzon grid’s power reserves were 1,717MW, while demand hit 6,831MW as of January 21.

Among the power plants that are on scheduled maintenance shutdown are Malaya 1 (300MW); GN Power 2 (300MW); Masinloc 2 (315MW); and Quezon power plant (460MW).

Powerplants currently on scheduled maintenance shutdown are:

• 460 MW Quezon power plant – expected to operational by February 25
• 315 MW Masinloc – service to be restored by end-January
• 300 MW Malaya 1 – expected to be back online in July
• 300MW GN Power 2 – targeted to be back on line in March

The power plants that went on forced (unscheduled) outages are:

• 60MW Limay 6 – due to high turbine vibration
• 100MW Limay 8 – due to an undetermined cause
• 350MW Malaya 2 – due to main fuel heater leak
• 300MW GN Power 1 – due to actuation of a generator fault problem
• 27MW – Tiwi 2 due to a low vacuum
• 20MW – Bacman 2 due to still undetermined cause
• Ilijan A – due to an undetermined cause

Ilijan A is expected to be back online by February while the other 6 plants have have no set dates yet for resuming operations.

No power outages yet

DOE Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla said despite the number of power plants offline, there are still no reported power outages in Luzon.

“The cool weather keeps the demand low. We’re hoping for the best,” and that the grid’s condition was normal, Petilla said.

Based on a data from the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines, the following plants are scheduled to go offline for maintenance:

• Limay A4 (90MW) – from February 5-7
• Masinloc 1 (315MW) – from March 1-12
• Sta. Rita 1 (250MW) – from March 7-11
• Limay A1 (60MW) – from March 15-22
• Limay B1 (60MW) – from April 8-15
• Limay A2 (60MW) – from May 24-31

Exacerbating the looming shortage is in the fact that several hydro power plants are also expected to go offline this year including Angat, Bakun, Casecnan, Binga, Magat, Pantabangan, and San Roque.

Sticking with ILP

The DOE is still pushing the Interruptible Load Program (ILP) as its solution for the looming shortages.

The program works by having business and industrial customers with loads of at least 1MW to use their own generator sets for energy thus lightening the load on the grid.

“As far as I am concerned, the ILP can still be recruited up to the start of summer but we need Congress’s issuance of the joint resolution for this to be operational,” Petilla had previously said. (READ: Palace reiterates need for emergency powers)

The DOE continues to negotiate as the latest program data shows it does yet not have enough capacity to offset the expected shortage.

To date, DOE is also still encouraging 32 more participants to sign up as ILP participants.

“In times like this, we need the collective effort and assistance of those who are willing to extend their hands,” Petilla said. – Rappler.com