THE Luzon Grid was placed under yellow alert as of 1 p.m. yesterday due to the tripping of two coal-fired power plants.
The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) said the alert was triggered by the tripping of the 600 megawatts (MW) unit 2 of the Sual power plant and the 725 MW unit 2 of GN Power Dinginin power plant.
NGCP said the two coal-fired power plant units reportedly went out as both suffered from boiler tube leaks.
Yellow alert was raised in the Luzon Grid yesterday from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. as 22 power plant units were on either forced outage or de-rated with a total unavailable capacity of 3,017.9 megawatts (MW).
Yellow alerts are issued when the level of power reserve in the grid is low but power interruptions are not imminent.
This is the third time yellow alert was raised this month with the previous incidents recorded last July 17 and 18.
NGCP added the alerts were raised as available capacity in the Luzon Grid was only 12,969 MW against a peak demand of 11,768 MW.
Meanwhile, the Department of Energy (DOE), in collaboration with the Task Force on Energy Resiliency and the United States Agency for International Development-Energy Secure Philippines, has launched the Energy Resiliency Scorecard (ERS) that will serve as a standardized benchmark for measuring energy resilience.
DOE said that as a self-assessment tool designed to evaluate energy facilities’ readiness to prepare for, withstand, and recover from natural or human-induced disruptions, ERS assesses energy resilience across various pillars.
Among energy resilience pillars checked by the ERS include infrastructure strengthening, systems, disaster risk financing and insurance, stockpiling, response, rehabilitation, and cyber resilience.
DOE said the ERS also offers benchmarking against both local and international resilience standards, drawing inspiration from models such as the DOE’s Resiliency Compliance Plan (RCP), which emphasizes preparedness before, during and after disruptive events.
“With the ERS, energy facilities can determine their current resilience levels and identify areas for improvement by applying scores to standardized criteria and indices… This tool helps facilities identify strengths, pinpoint gaps and prioritize improvements to achieve greater energy resilience,” said Energy Undersecretary Felix William Fuentebella, in a statement.
