Power outages could still affect Metro Manila and neighboring provinces this week as the supply in the Luzon grid is unlikely to be sufficient to fulfill peak demand and grid requirements.
In a report by Inquirer, the Manila Electric Company (MERALCO) said that power outages may be necessary to preserve grid stability in the event of emergency interruptions or large decreases in capacity from power facilities.
As of June 2, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) reported that Luzon had a capacity of 14,276 megawatts, higher than the 11,572 MW available during the weekend’s red alert status.
MERALCO spokesperson Joe Zaldarriaga said that the peak demand had ranged between 12,000 MW to 13,000 MW, and any more unplanned outages could strain the available supply, making rotational power interruptions a possibility.
On Saturday, Metro Manila and its surrounding areas experienced power outages due to insufficient power supply.
To this, MERALCO implemented manual load dropping (MLD) in its service area, causing outages lasting around 1.5 hours. The MLD began at 2:17 p.m., and full power restoration was completed by 11:47 p.m. on the same day.
Zaldarriaga explained that rotational power interruptions were necessary across Luzon, including MERALCO’s service areas, to manage the system condition and that it has been actively managing the demand to minimize or avoid power interruptions.
