Low power reserves seen in May and June

May 5 ----- The country's power reserves could dip during the first weeks of May and June, and the public should be mindful of using electricity wisely, an Energy department official said.

"What we are monitoring is the first week of May and the first week of June," Energy Undersecretary Felix Fuentebella said in Filipino during a news forum on Saturday.

Those two weeks and the weeks immediately after, he added, could see reserves become thin as the Energy department was expecting deficiencies in both regulating and contingency reserves. "We are looking at the possibility that there will be a deficiency in the regulating reserve and the contingency reserve during the first and second week of May and the first and second week of June," Fuenteballa said. "Do not be wasteful in the use of energy," he added.

Two weeks ago, the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities warned that the Luzon grid could be placed under a yellow alert — a situation where power reserves fall below ideal levels but not to the point that outages are likely — before the end of April up to the middle of June. In March, Energy Undersecretary Rowena Guevarra claimed that the power situation during the dry months would remain manageable with no red alerts, which is when rotational power outages should be expected.

For Luzon, Guevara said the Energy department was expecting peak demand of 13,125 megawatts with at least 15 yellow alerts and zero red alerts.

Source: manilatimes.net