Gas supply restrictions from the Malampaya Gas field have triggered the 414-megawatt (MW) San Gabriel power plant to shut down, sources from the First Gen Corporation said.
In a report from the Manila Bulletin, a source from First Gen said that this would be the second time that the San Gabriel plant was placed on forced shutdown in the past three weeks.
The San Gabriel plant also went on shutdown from September 18 to 24 due to the lack of supply from Malampaya.
Following the shutdown, the Manila Electric Co. (MERALCO), the off-taker of the San Gabriel plant, will encounter reduced supply availability which could result in exposure to volatile or higher prices in the spot market.
Sources from affected players said that the gas supply restriction of the Malampaya is “open-ended,” adding that it is uncertain when supply will be available and when will it stop.
They added that while Malampaya is no longer supplying the Ilijan plant, recurring gas supply deficiencies are still being experienced.
Last October 1, around 850,000 customers of MERALCO experienced power interruptions due to the tripping of the 500-kilovolt San Jose-Nagsaag transmission line of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP).
MERALCO was forced to drop 470 MW of load with the line tripping.
