Rains help avert Luzon blackouts

By Alena Mae S. Flores – June 21, 2021 at 07:40 pm
from manilastandard.net

Cooler temperature brought by rains helped ease the tight power reserves in the Luzon grid, a government official said Monday.

Grid operator National Grid Corp. of the Philippines had predicted a yellow alert status from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Monday, but lifted the announcement at 10:15 a.m. because of sufficient generating capacity.

According to NGCP, the Luzon grid’s operating requirement reached 11,344 megawatts compared with the available capacity of 11,760 MW, or net operating margin at 416 MW.

Energy Undersecretary Felix William Fuentebella said in an interview over PTV4 the yellow alert meant very thin reserves in the grid but no rotating brownouts. “When we have yellow alert, there is thin reserves but does not mean we lack supply. Yellow alert means we should not expect any rotational brownout o power interruption,” Fuentebella said.

Fuentebella said the cloudy weather on Monday helped ease demand while power plants also followed the preventive maintenance schedule. “We anticipate better scenario for our country and power system,” he said.