28 JUNE 2010

Power supply in Metro, Luzon remains critical - National Grid

The power situation in Metro Manila and provinces in Luzon remained critical due to a power supply deficit that reached 125 megawatts (MW) as of Monday afternoon, according to the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP).

NGCP, the private operator of country's transmission network, implemented one-hour rotating brownouts Monday morning due to the power generation deficiency. Luzon, however, was spared the outages in the afternoon due to lower demand for electricity and favorable weather conditions.

With Luzon still on red alert in terms of power supply, due to the lack of sufficient generating capacities, the country's largest island may still experience rotating brownouts.

NGCP disclosed that the 460-MW coal-fired power facility in Quezon, owned by the Quezon Power Ltd. was generating only 190 MW as of Monday.

Three power plants have shut down as well, namely the first 300-MW unit of the Malaya diesel power plant in Rizal, which reportedly lacks fuel to run the facility; the 216-MW Bauang diesel plant in La Union; and the second 647-MW unit of Sual coal facility.

A unit at the Sta. Rita 10 in Batangas, which generates 250 MW, has also been shut down. It was scheduled to start producing power again at 5 p.m. Monday. As of this posting, however, the NGCP has not issued an advisory on the resumption of operations of the natural gas unit

Read article source in Philippine Daily Inquirer, June 28, 2010