The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) is urging the public to monitor their electricity consumption during the holiday season,
This is in line with the upcoming preventive maintenance of one of Panay Energy Development Corporation’s (PEDC) generating plants, a subsidiary of Global Business Power Corporation (GBP), scheduled for December.
Lead specialist of the Public Relations Department of NGCP, Reagahn Alcantara, said that if the PEDC decided to proceed with the shutdown, alternative power plants would be dispatched, including the use of the 180 megawatt (MW) capacity underwater cable connecting Negros and Panay.
However, if the power supply runs out while the demand is high, the company may choose to perform manual load drops or rotating brownouts.
The NGCP provided data at its October Power 101 briefing that indicated that Panay Island’s afternoon peak demand is at 486 megawatts (MW) and its evening peak demand is at 453 MW, with a maximum generating capacity of 611.5 MW.
GBP First vice president for Panay Operations Antonio Cabalhug revealed that the annual preventive maintenance shutdown for PEDC 3 was initially scheduled. However, in response to an urgent request from the NGCP, the shutdown was postponed by a week.
“We are supposed to down the 150 (MW) but because of the urgent request of the NGCP last night, we are now targeting probably a week to postpone,” he said.
At 150 MW, PEDC 3 produces more than 25% of Panay’s average daily electricity consumption.
