NGCP assures power-supply sufficiency for Luzon grid amid Sual plant shutdown

By  Lenie Lectura – February 7, 2017

from Business Mirror

The Luzon grid was spared from power-outage incidents amid the sudden shutdown of the 1,294-megawatt (MW) Sual power plant in Pangasinan, the largest coal-fired power plant in the Philippines.

The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP), according to the Department of Energy (DOE), said  “the grid is still normal [at this time]”.

Based on the most recent update of NGCP, the Luzon grid will have a net reserve of 1,089 MW during the afternoon peak today [Tuesday]”.

Sual Unit 2 went online at 5:21 a.m., while Sual Unit 1 went offline at 10:15 a.m. of Monday, February 6, due to a possible condenser-tube leak, but the power situation in Luzon is still manageable, NGCP assured.

Sual 2 (647 MW) went offline due to condenser-tube leak for four days that ended on Monday, the same day Sual 1 went on emergency shutdown at 10:15 a.m. for the same reason.

The emergency shutdown was necessary to prevent further boiler- tube failure and turbine damage, according to Team Energy.

Team Energy also said Sual Unit 1 is expected to return online on February 13. It will provide the DOE periodic updates with regard to the plant conditions.

The DOE has sent a team to the Sual facility. “We need to make Team Sual aware that we are checking on them and all the others,” Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi said.

“Our goals are getting the correct reports and pushing them to a higher degree in doing their jobs,” Cusi said. “It’s not just them giving the right account of what’s going on. More important, it’s the higher standard we are after.”

The energy chief said audit teams must push and convince plant operators to procure
quality materials to achieve a higher level in performing their functions.

Sual Unit 2 is now running at 647 MW, and Malaya Unit 2 will be utilized at minimum stable capacity of 130 MW to maintain normal system conditions, the agency said.