The Department of Energy (DOE) and Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) will investigate the forced outages and deration of power plants and the tripping of transmission lines that caused the yellow and red alerts on Monday, September 12.
In a report by the Manila Bulletin, ERC said it is verifying the cause of the power outages, as submitted by the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP). However, no timeline has been given on when the regulatory board would finish its investigation.
Earlier, the DOE said that it will “conduct actual physical spot checks and validate the condition of the transmission lines and the affected power plants.” Energy secretary Raphael Lotilla assured the public that there is no fuel supply shortage amid the alerts raised over the Luzon Grid.
According to the NGCP, the 668-megawatt (MW) GNPower Dinginin coal-fired power plant unit 1 went on forced outage due to “turbine vibration rectification”, while the 300-MW Calaca coal-fired power plant unit 2 suffered from “generator high vibration refinement activities.”
The 460 MW Quezon power plant also went on forced outage after suffering a “primary air fan A broken inlet vane linkage.”
Meanwhile, the 647 MW Sual plant’s Unit 1 and 2, 344 MW Masinloc power plant Unit 2, and the 335 MW Masinloc 3 generating unit went on forced outage due to the tripping of the 500-kilovolt Bolo-Nagsaag transmission line.
ERC will verify the reports submitted by the NGCP and the other power-generating companies. The regulatory body will also be looking at the cause of the tripping of the Bolo-Nagsaag line and the actions taken to repair the transmission line,
On Monday, the NGCP placed the Luzon Grid on red alert from 1:00 to 4:00 PM and on yellow alert from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM and 4:00 PM to 9:00 PM as seven power plants went on forced outage, while three others are running on derated capacities.
3,627 megawatts (MW) were shaved off from the grid following the alerts. Data from NGCP said states that Luzon Grid’s available capacity is at 10,727 MW while peak demand is at 10,585 MW.