Luzon on power ‘yellow alert’ after series of earthquakes – DOE

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) has placed Luzon power grid under “yellow alert” status from “red alert,” after some plants went online for additional supply.

“As of 3pm, red alert has been lifted by NGCP for the Luzon grid. Available Capacity is now at 9,772 megawatt per hour (MW), while peak demand is at 9,351 MW,” NGCP announced on its official Twitter page at 3:25 pm, Monday, 

At around 1 pm Monday, April 10, NGCP announced red alert status for the Luzon grid, wherein demand was seen to exceed supply, after a series of earthquakes hit the region over the weekend.

“Right now, Luzon is under red alert without manual load dropping,” Department of Energy spokesperson Felix Fuentebella said in a media briefing in Taguig City past 1 pm on Monday.

He said the NGCP might downgrade it to “yellow alert” past 3 pm as some plants will go online for additional supply.

Before downgrading it to yellow alert, Fuentebella said available capacity was set at 9,300 MW compared to the peak demand of 9,370 MW. Red alert means there is a power deficiency, while a yellow alert means reserves are thin.

“We lost 2,584 MWs of power supply capacity, of which 1,647 MWs were lost because of the earthquakes,” Fuentebella said.

Among the plants affected were Avion Unit 2, San Gabriel, San Lorenzo units 1 and 2. (LOOK: IN PHOTOS: #QuakePH causes panic, damage in Batangas resort)

NGCP first declared a yellow alert status for the Luzon grid at around 9 am on Monday.

Department of Energy on power situation in areas affected by quakes @rapplerdotcom pic.twitter.com/dQarfikkDd

— Chrisee V. Dela Paz (@chriseedelapaz) April 10, 2017

Manila Electric Company (Meralco) spokesman Joe Zaldarriaga said there are about 1.2 million customers affected by the earthquakes, while load of about 900 MWs were dropped.

The energy department warned that the Luzon grid might not be spared from brownouts this summer, owing to tight electricity supply, even with efforts to ease grid demand through the Interruptible Load Program.

“If the supply is thin and demand is big, prices will go up. The department’s strategy is to develop our own power supply,” Fuentebella said. 

On the conservative side, Fuentebella said the Luzon grid could still be on yellow alert status until Wednesday, April 12. 

Two earthquakes hit different parts of Batangas one after another last Saturday. – Rappler.com