Strained power supply spreads to Mindanao

Misery loves company – and Mindanao seems not passing up on a chance to commiserate with the electricity service woes of co-consumers in Luzon and Visayas, hence, it has been joining in the appalling power industry chaos.

On Wednesday (April 24), system operator National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) declared not just red and yellow alerts in Luzon and Visayas grids, but a ‘yellow alert’ for Mindanao grid.

For Mindanao, in particular, this is the first time that its power supply teetered on a knife’s edge after many years of being on a surplus mode.

These recurring events in the power system puts in question if the interruptible load program (ILP) as the sanctioned band-aid solution of the Department of Energy (DOE) could still spare consumers from the horror of blackouts or power service interruptions on a daily basis.

According to NGCP, the ‘red alert’ condition in the Luzon grid has been raised by 3:00 to 4:00pm today: and yellow alert will persist from 1:00 to 3::00pm, then at 4:00 to 10:00pm.

For Visayas grid, the ‘red alert’ state will be on longer duration from 12:00 to 5:00pm; then from 6:00 to 8:00pm; while yellow alert starts from 10:00am to 12:00 noon; 5:00 to 6:00pm and 8:00 to 9:00pm.

A unique development which has ignited aggravated fears of a full-blown power crisis had been the yellow alert predicament also declared for Mindanao grid from 10:00am to 4:00pm.

As routinely explained by NGCP, a ‘red alert’ phenomenon in a power system is issued when electricity supply “is insufficient to meet consumer demand and the transmission grid’s regulating requirement,” while a ‘yellow alert’ entails that “the operating margin is insufficient to meet the transmission grid’s contingency requirement.”

For Luzon, in particular, it was reported that four plants are still on forced outages; while two plants are on de-rated (reduced) capacities; hence, taking out 1,840.3MW capacity from the grid.

Visayas still has one plant on unscheduled shutdown; while eight are on de-rated scale of generation, according to the power grid operator.

Mindanao has been the ‘surprise terror’ in this continuing badly written plot of power supply predicaments in the country, with NGCP conveying that nine plants have been on forced outages and five were running on derated capacities. — Myrna M. Velasco