Palace Lauds Private Sector Effort To Avert Brownouts

Communications Secretary Herminio B. Coloma Jr. recognized the efforts of the private sector to avert brownouts last Friday after the Luzon grid was placed on red alert due to the lack of power reserves.

“Nagpalabas ang NGCP ng yellow alert status noong umaga na itinaas pa nila into a red alert status sa bandang tanghali. Ngunit ito ay natugunan kaagad sa pamamagitan ng interruptible load program. Ito ang boluntaryong pagtulong ng pribadong sektor na kung saan ay 121 ILP (Interruptible Load Program) participants ay nagbigay ng kontribusyon na 247 megawatts mula sa generating capacity ng mga gensets nila,” he said in a radio interview.

The ILP participants de-load their consumption from the grid by using their own generator sets. The ILP is an initiative of the Manila Electric Co., participants are compensated for de-loading their power consumption.

He cited the ILP prevented rotating brownouts to over 280,000 Meralco customers from 1-2 p.m and 290,000 customers from 2-3 p.m.

“At dahil dito ang Meralco ay nakakilos para mag-prevent ng rotating brownout na sana ay nakaapekto sa mahigit sa 280,000 customers doon sa one to two p.m. at halos 290,000 customers doon sa 2 to 3 p.m.,” the Palace official said.

He assured the Energy Department is monitoring the rising heat index, planned maintenance shutdowns and forced outage of power plants.

“Batid natin ang nararanasang heightened heat index, talaga naman pong napakainit ng panahon ngayon at tumataas ang temperatura kaya’t talagang lumalakas din ang paggamit ng kuryente.”

“Kasabay din diyan ang mga nakatakdang maintenance schedule para sa mga power plants at meron din namang mga nagaganap na hindi inaasahan o forced outage.”

“Kaya lahat ng iyan ay sinusubaybayang masinsin ng ating Department of Energy.”

Coloma further disclosed the yellow alert for the Visayas grid was lifted due to the export of capacity from the Luzon grid and the return of the Pagbilao power plant.

“Sinabi din ni (DOE) Secretary Monsada na ang Visayas, ay nailagay sa yellow alert noong Biyernes, bandang ika-pito ng gabi. Ito ay naagapan at naibalik sa normal status dahil iyon pong power supply natin sa Luzon ay nai-export po natin sa Visayas Grid sa tulong ‘nung operation ng Pagbilao Plant,” the Palace official said.

He stressed the specific time interval for the red alert proves the power forecast was studied.

“At mapapansin din natin na mayroong specific time interval doon sa pagra-raise ng red alert kaya napaghahandaan ito. Hindi hula-hula, alam ang projected and actual load sa particular na oras kaya’t napapanahon din at nasa tamang oras ang pagtugon sa pangangailangan,” Coloma said.

The Secretary also urged the public to conserve electricity during off-peak hours.

“Pag gabi na, hindi na naman ganung kainit, baka naman makapag-tipid din tayo ng konti sa kuryente at magsagawa na rin ng iba pang energy conservation measures,” he said.

The country’s power demand historically peaks during the summer, specifically on May, as consumers tend to use more cooling appliances. PND (jd)