ERC flags 5 power companies for exceeding unplanned outages
By Alena Mae S. Flores – May 14, 2024, 8:55 pm
from manilastandard.net
The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) said Tuesday its initial investigation showed that five power generating companies breached the unplanned outage allowance.
ERC director for market operations service Sharon Montaner said during a Senate hearing the agency would issue an order to two companies in the Luzon grid to explain why they exceeded the allowable unplanned outage days.
These are the Masinloc coal-fired power plant unit 1 in Zambales and Sem-Calaca Power Corp. coal plant unit 2 in Batangas.
Montaner said based on the agency’s investigation on red and yellow alerts last month, majority of the generating units identified on outage in Luzon were due to constraints on resources such as water for hydro plants and steam for geothermal plants.
Montaner said the forced outage of four generating units from Sem-Calaca, Masinloc and Pagbilao coal plants with total capacity of 1,438 MW significantly contributed to the generation deficiency from April 16 to 21, 2024.
She said the forced outage of the Pagbilao plant units 1 and 2 were necessary to repair/replace the ruptured tubes and prevent further damage to equipment which might have resulted in longer outages.
