A spate of rotating brownouts is threatening to hit Luzon as the available power supply swung to low, precarious levels on Thursday.
\nBased on the data from the National Grid Corp. of Philippines, the Luzon grid\u2019s power supply reserves remained \u201cthin\u201d at only 101 megawatts, putting the island on yellow alert, which meant that any further outage, even from a single power plant could already cause brownouts.
\nThis power supply situation runs contrary to previous pronouncements that the Luzon grid enjoys a healthy buffer of about 1,700 MW to as much as 2,000 MW on any given day.
\nIn a phone interview on Thursday, Energy Undersecretary Josefina Patricia Asirit explained that the drastic reduction in power supply reserves was caused by the outage of several critical facilities.
\nAccording to Asirit, one unit of the Sual coal-fired power plant in Pangasinan tripped on Thursday, removing 550 MW of supply from the grid. The repair for this unit can take six to eight weeks to complete, which means that this will coincide during the Malampaya shutdown next month.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re still checking if the Sual unit can run at a limited capacity, maybe lower than 550 MW, while repairs are ongoing,\u201d Asirit said.
\nThis is the second time this month that a unit at the 1,200 MW Sual plant had bogged down. This facility is currently owned and operated by Team Energy, but the contracted capacities and fuel requirements are being managed by highly diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corp.
\nFurther aggravating the power supply woes in Luzon is the shutdown of the 300-MW unit at the Calaca coal-fired power plant in Batangas. Asirit, however, said they were hoping that repairs would be completed soon.
\nA 382-MW unit at the Pagbilao coal plant in Quezon is also out, but due to a scheduled preventive maintenance. According to Asirit, many facilities are starting to undergo their respective maintenance repairs this rainy season, when power demand usually declines given the cooler weather.
\nThe Pagbilao facility is also owned and operated by Team Energy but the contracted capacity is being managed by Aboitiz Power Corp.
\nAlso out is the 350-MW unit at the Malaya thermal power plant in Rizal as the government moves to build up fuel inventory in preparation for the shutdown of the Malampaya gas field off Palawan from July 13 to 21.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re hoping that everything will come together in time for Malampaya shutdown, that all these facilities will be online by then,\u201d Asirit said.
\nThis nine-day shutdown will affect the operations of the three gas-fired power plants in Batangas, which currently provide roughly 40 percent of Luzon\u2019s electricity requirements. These facilities are the 1,200-MW Ilijan, 1,000-MW Sta. Rita and the 500-MW San Lorenzo gas plants\u2014all of which are expected to use the more expensive liquid condensates during the shutdown period to ensure continued operations and stable power supply.<\/p>\n