The Department of Energy (DOE) is looking into the 1, 294-megawatt (MW) Sual power station after a sudden shutdown of one of its units on Monday.

“We need to make Team Sual aware that we are checking on them and all the others,” Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said in a briefing at the Philippine National Oil Co.

Sual plant is the largest coal-fired power plant in the Philippines, and is generating and supplying power for the Luzon Grid.

The DOE said that the second unit of Sual went online at 5:21 AM, while the first unit went offline at 10:15 am due to a possible condenser tube leak. However, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) said that the power situation in Luzon is ‘normal.’

Team Energy said that Sual 1 is seen to go online by February 13, and they will give DOE updates on the plant’s conditions.

“Our goals are getting the correct reports and pushing them to a higher degree in doing their jobs,” Cusi said. “It’s not just them giving the right account of what’s going on. More important, it’s the higher standard we are after.”

Sual 2 went offline because of condenser tube that leaked for four days, ending on Monday.

The Sual Power Plant is coal -fired power plant located in Sual, Pangasinan and is owned by Team Energy, a joint venture between Marubeni Corporation and Tokyo Electric Power Corporation.

*Photo from SMC Global Power website.