The Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) do not expect yellow alerts in the Luzon and Mindanao grids but warned of its possibility in the Visayas.
Yellow alerts are issued when the level of power reserves in the grid is low and below the capacity of the largest generating unit but power interruptions are not imminent.
The initial findings were announced by the DOE and NGCP after a virtual meeting last week to prepare for and implement interventions needed to meet the country’s outlook of power supply and demand for the year.
NGCP indicated there are no foreseen yellow alerts in the Luzon grid this year but some amendments in the schedule of generator maintenance were proposed.
The NGCP monitored last Monday and Tuesday incidents of yellow alerts in the Luzon grid due to unplanned outage of several power plants.
There are no foreseen alert levels in Mindanao even factoring in generator maintenance adjustments.
Meanwhile, NGCP said in a worst case scenario, the Visayas grid is expected to have yellow alerts this year in the absence of high-voltage direct current transmission link from Luzon and after taking into account generator maintenance adjustments.
“There should be no surprises this year, especially given our continuous battle against the new coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, regions that have been affected by Typhoon Odette are rebuilding themselves and of course, because we are in an election year,” said DOE Secretary Alfonso Cusi, in a statement.
The DOE also said it will continue to meet regularly with NGCP as well as with all energy stakeholders to secure the continuous supply of power nationwide, as part of the preparations for the presentation of the annual power supply and demand outlook.
In a separate statement, the National Electrification Administration (NEA) ordered all electric cooperatives (ECs) to produce contingency plans in the event of a power supply deficit with the possible effects of the Indonesian coal exports ban to local power generators.
In a regulatory advisory dated January 10, NEA ordered ECs with existing power supply agreements with coal-fired generation plants to coordinate with their respective suppliers for their compliance with the 30-day minimum inventory requirement.
