The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) sees enough reserves to cover another record high in peak demand this 2018 if not for any delays in committed power projects.
The peak demand is seen to reach 10, 561 megawatts (MW) in Luzon, 2, 143 MW in the Visayas, and 2, 064 MW in Mindanao, NGCP System and Standards Head of the Technical Services Department, Ermelindo Bugaoisan said, citing the Department of Energy (DOE)’s Power Development Plan.
The operator said that the power supply in Luzon is expected to face constraints in April as there is an expected rise in demand due to rising operations.
But, Bugaoisan said that Luzon will have 1,432 MW reserves during the highest peak in May – which is enough to cover contingencies.
Meanwhile, Visayas will have 400 MW reserves, Mindanao 1,133 MW during the peak demand that historically happens at the end of the year.
But, these estimates are all assumed with no foreseen circumstances that can come from weather, changes in demand profile and how the committed plans progress.
“Assuming that the projections which are based on plant outages and maintenance program and historical peaks and projected rise in demand by the DOE, assuming nothing deviates from that then we see no issues for the coming year,” NGCP spokesperson Cynthia Alabanza said.
“This does not consider unplanned outages which cannot be because of its nature that you cannot forecast it so its difficult to factor that in,” Alabanza added.
“There’s always a potential for power outages but assuming all things remain on plan and on schedule we see nothing that we can reasonably predict.”
