Eastern Visayas Braces for Power Outages Amid Grid Alerts

TACLOBAN CITY — Electric cooperatives in Eastern Visayas warned consumers Monday, Sept. 7, of possible power interruptions as the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) placed the Visayas grid under red and yellow alerts due to tight power supply. NGCP said it may implement Manual Load Dropping (MLD) from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. in areas served by the following distribution utilities and electric cooperatives: About one million member-consumers are served by these distribution utilities across the region. READ: Visayas grid under red alert as demand exceeds capacity The possible power interruptions are intended to help protect the stability of the power grid amid limited generation and power imports from Mindanao, NGCP said. The Visayas grid was placed under red alert from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. and yellow alert from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. NGCP reported available capacity of 2,530 megawatts (MW) against a projected peak demand of 2,508 MW, leaving only a slim reserve. It attributed the tight supply situation to the unavailability of the large coal-fired plants TVI 1 and PEDC 3, the 146.2-MW derating of THVI 2 due to a main steam problem, and limited power imports from Mindanao. Eight power plants were on forced outage, while 15 others were operating at reduced capacity, resulting in a total of 818.9 MW of unavailable capacity. NGCP said the MLD schedule may still be canceled if system conditions improve, such as when actual electricity demand falls below projections. A red alert means available supply is insufficient to meet demand and the grid’s regulating requirement, while a yellow alert indicates that the operating margin is insufficient to meet the grid’s contingency requirement. NGCP urged consumers to use electricity prudently, particularly during peak hours. /mcm