Power demand levels in Luzon and Visayas have reached their peak demand at 14,380 megawatts (MW) this May, a 5.27% increase from last year’s 13,660MW.
Data from the Independent Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP) said that the Luzon Grid’s peak demand reached 12,103MW, while the Visayas Grid’s reached 2,285MW – both recorded on May 12. The increase in demand was attributed to the economy recovering as businesses continue to resume their operations amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“More so, for the onset of May, the nation has still encountered remnants of the dry season which forced people to consume more electricity with the increased use of air-conditioning systems,” IEMOP said in a statement.
Supply levels also increased for Luzon and Visayas this month amounting to 15,406MW, up 1,411MW from the previous month. The growth in supply was due to the resumption of coal-fired and geothermal power plants that were previously on outage during the latter half of April.
“Likewise, the Department of Energy, through its Energy Task Force Election, stayed on top of the entire demand-supply situation which further paved the way for the ample supply levels during the election period,” IEMOP added.
Coal remained the country’s top source of power at 4,723 gigawatt-hours (GWh) or 60.9% of the power generation mix. Natural gas contributed 1,681 GWh or 21.6% of the mix, and geothermal with 780 GWh or ten percent.