Officials of the Department of Energy and National Grid Corp. of the Philippines met virtually over the weekend to discuss this year’s power supply situation.
The department assured the public it is closely working with all energy players and stakeholders to secure the continuous supply of power nationwide.
“The goal of these meetings is to make sure that all power sector stakeholders are aligned for CY2022. The availability of stable and reliable power supply is of grave importance―there should be no surprises this year, especially given our continuous battle against the COVID-19 pandemic, regions that have been affected by Typhoon Odette are rebuilding themselves, and of course, because we are in an election year,” Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said in a statement.
The energy stakeholders discussed the 2022 power demand/supply outlook, as provided for by Department Circular DC2020-02-0004, which provides guidelines on the planned outage schedules of power plants and transmission facilities and the public posting of the grid operating and maintenance program.
NGCP presented its updated power outlook for Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao grid this year. It indicated that there are no foreseen yellow alerts for the year with the grid operator proposing for some amendments in the schedule of generator maintenance adjustments.
A yellow alert refers the thinning of power reserves in the grid. It is raised when reserves fall below the capacity of the largest generating unit.
The DOE said as the worst case scenario, the energy sector should anticipate the potential occurrence of yellow alerts in the Visayas in the absence of high-voltage direct current transmission link from Luzon, and taking into account generator maintenance adjustments.
“HVDC should always be available to provide support, as outages outside of the provided maintenance schedule may result to the thinning of reserves in Visayas or Luzon, since both grids support each other at peak times of the day,” it said.
The agency said there are also no foreseen yellow alerts in Mindanao, even after factoring in generator maintenance adjustments.