NGCP lifts Red, Yellow alert over Luzon Grid

June 3 ------ The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) on Wednesday lifted the Red and Yellow alert status almost six hours after it was raised. “As of 3:21 p.m., red and yellow alerts have been lifted by NGCP for the Luzon grid due to receding system demand,” the grid operator said in an advisory. The grid operator placed the Luzon grid under Yellow Alert from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m., from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m., and from 11 p.m. to 12 a.m.; and Red Alert from a.m. to 5 p.m. and from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m., indicating that there is zero ancillary services or a generation deficiency exists.

Available capacity is at 11,260 megawatts while the operating requirement is at 11,976MW, resulting in an operating margin deficiency of -716. In a separate statement, the Department of Energy (DOE) said the alert statuses were lifted “due to low system demand and synchronization of Sual Unit 2.” “The available capacity has improved with a net increase of up to 265 MW (megawatts) with the early entry of Sual Unit 2 despite the untimely forced outage of Pagbilao Unit 2,” the DOE said.

Pagbilao Coal-Fired Power Plant Unit 2, with 382 MW capacity, is currently on forced outage as of 12:12 p.m. due to boiler water wall tube leak. The DOE said it is now coordinating with the power plant regarding the status of restoration, whose target date of operation is June 6, 2021. Meanwhile, Sual Coal-fired Power Plant Unit 2, with 647 MW capacity, has been synchronized to the grid at 2:21 p.m., the Energy department said. As of 1 p.m., the NGCP projected a total available capacity of 10,746 MW, relative to the projected peak demand of 10,505 MW.

The DOE added that Meralco called out its interruptible load program (ILP) participants to voluntarily deload from the grid during the red alert. “As of 10:30 a.m., committed capacity is at 241.57 MW from 104 participating accounts,” it said.

Source: gmanetwork.com