Electricity consumers in Tacloban City and the towns of Palo and Babatngon in Leyte province were warned of possible temporary power interruptions on Tuesday as the Visayas power grid was placed under red and yellow alerts amid tight supply conditions.
The Leyte II Electric Cooperative (Leyeco II) said the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), the operator of the country’s transmission grid, informed the cooperative that the Visayas Grid would be under red alert from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. and yellow alert from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Aug. 25.
NGCP’s 8 a.m. update showed that the Visayas had 2,421 megawatts (MW) of available capacity against a projected peak demand of 2,570 MW, leaving a supply gap of about 149 MW during the peak period.
Leyeco II said forced outages of several power plants and the operation of other generating facilities at reduced capacities caused the tight supply.
NGCP reported that 10 power plants were on forced outage, while 13 others were operating at derated capacities, resulting in a combined 904.5 MW of unavailable capacity.
Among the factors that the NGCP cited were the unavailability of the Visayas’ large coal-fired power plants TVI 1, TVI 2, and KSPC 1, as well as limited power imports from Mindanao because of that region’s high demand forecast.
A red alert means available power supply is insufficient to meet consumer demand and the transmission grid’s regulating requirement. A yellow alert, meanwhile, means the operating margin is insufficient to meet the grid’s contingency requirement.
Leyeco II warned that if the tight supply condition persists and NGCP directs the cooperative to reduce its load, it may implement Manual Load Dropping (MLD), or the temporary disconnection of electricity supply in selected portions of its service area to reduce overall electricity consumption.
The cooperative said this measure would be implemented only if necessary and upon appropriate notice from NGCP.
Leyeco II serves more than 96,600 member-consumers in Tacloban City and the municipalities of Palo and Babatngon. Its franchise area is officially covered by Republic Act No. 12017, which authorizes the cooperative to operate and maintain the electricity distribution system serving the three areas.
The NGCP’s transmission facilities supplying the area include the Babatngon-Arado 69-kilovolt transmission line, which serves Tacloban and the neighboring towns.
Leyeco II urged its member-consumers to conserve electricity, particularly during peak-demand periods, and to monitor official announcements from the cooperative and NGCP for updates on the grid condition and any possible power interruptions.