Following the Yellow and Red alerts declared by the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), the Department of Energy (DOE) through its Electric Power Industry Management Bureau (EPIMB) is diligently watching and collaborating with the systems operator (SO) to keep under supervision all generation companies.
“While we continue to monitor and ask our power plant operators to work on restoring full operations, we can maximize our energy efficiency efforts as we go through this period of extreme heat. Flexible work arrangements and other conservation measures would also be helpful,” said Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla.
In Luzon, the energy department ordered all distribution utilities (DUs) like the Manila Electric Company (MERALCO) and electric cooperatives (ECs) to implement their Interruptible Load Program (ILP) to aid in lessening the overall demand on the grid.
Furthermore, the DOE reminded government offices of President Marcos Jr. directive to spearhead the conservation of energy and minimize power during this time.
A notice of Yellow Alert was announced from 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM, 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM, and 9:00 PM to 11:00 PM while Red Alert was declared starting 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM and 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM; with all of this due to unscheduled outages of some power plants in Luzon.
Additionally, the Visayas Grid received a notice of Yellow Alert from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM and 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM due to outages and a decrease in the number of online generation facilities.
Earlier, NGCP energized the 230 kilovolt (kV) Cebu-Negros-Panay Backbone Project Stage 3 (CNP3) that would strengthen the transfer capacity from Panay to Negros and to Cebu.
The remaining element, with a capacity of 400 MW, is the final phase of the project and was energized on March 27 of this year. With this installation, it had upgraded the existing Amlan-Samboan submarine cable.
Additionally, a new 230 kV transmission line was installed from Bacolod to E.B. Magalona as part of the CNP project’s first stage. Magalona and the Cebu Substation were upgraded to 230 kV level in the second stage.
