By Joann Villanueva
A yellow alert was raised over the Luzon grid yesterday, October 14, from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m., with unplanned outages alone reaching 2,955 megawatts (MW).
Data released by the Department of Energy (DOE) showed that the bulk of the outages are accounted for by outside management control (OMC) at 1,825 MW.
Of this, 1,620 MW was caused by the planned outage of the Malampaya gas-to-power facility at offshore northeast Palawan, which the Department of Energy (DOE) earlier said was scheduled between October 12-15, 2019.
This maintenance shutdown affected the natural gas sources of Ilijan Block A (600 MW) and Ilijan Block B (600 MW) of KEPCO Ilijan Corporation in Ilijan, Batangas; and the San Gabriel Power Plant (420 MW), which is operated by the First NatGas Power Corporation (FNPC) in First Gen Clean Energy Complex in Batangas City.
Also part of the OMC outages are the 150 MW deficiency of the Malaya Thermal Power Unit 1 in Pililla, Rizal; and the 55 MW deficiency caused by Unit 5 of the MakBan Geothermal Power in Calauan, Laguna.
The largest forced outage during the day was caused by the condenser tube leak and ongoing washing of boiler and turbine to remove contaminated water from sodium and chloride of Team Energy Corporation’s (TEC) Sual Coal-fired Power Plant Unit 1.
DOE data show that TEC’s Sual coal-fired power plant, which has an installed capacity of 647 MW, was out of operations since last Oct. 11 and is estimated to resume operations on Oct. 21.
Others that are on forced outages to date are the Units 1 and 2 of Prime Meridian Power Corporation’s (PMPC) Avion Natural gas-fired power plant, both of which have a dependable capacity of 48 MW; Unit 1 of GNPower Mariveles Coal Plant Ltd. Co. (GMPC), which has a dependable capacity of 316 MW; Unit 1 of Aboitiz Power Renewables, Inc. (APRI) Tiwi Geothermal Power Plant, which has a 60MW dependable capacity; and the 12MW San Jose 1 Biomass Power Plant, which has an 11MW dependable capacity.
The resumption of operations of these five power plant’s units that are on forced outages is still being determined.
Aside from the forced outages, there are also power plants that are on de-rated operations to date and these include the SEM-Calaca Power Corporation (SCPC) Calaca Unit 2, from 300MW to just 200MW; Angat Hydropower Corporation (AHC) Angat Hydroelectric Power Plant Main Units 1-4, from 200MW to 160MW; and the First Gen Hydro Power Corporation’s (FGHPC) Pantabangan Hydroelectric Power Plant Units 1 and 2, from 120MW to zero.
Energy Undersecretary and spokesperson Felix William Fuentebella assured the public that DOE officials are closely watching the current state of Luzon’s capacity.
“We are closely monitoring the situation. The power bureau is on this,” he told journalists in a Viber message.
It has been a few months since the Luzon grid experienced capacity deficiency.
Yellow and red alert power situations are normally experienced in the grid during the summer months because the hydro-electric power plants are on maintenance shutdown due to water supply issues. (First published by PNA, Oct. 14, 2019)
A yellow alert was raised over the Luzon grid yesterday, October 14, from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m., with unplanned outages alone reaching 2,955 megawatts (MW).
Data released by the Department of Energy (DOE) showed that the bulk of the outages are accounted for by outside management control (OMC) at 1,825 MW.
Of this, 1,620 MW was caused by the planned outage of the Malampaya gas-to-power facility at offshore northeast Palawan, which the Department of Energy (DOE) earlier said was scheduled between October 12-15, 2019.
This maintenance shutdown affected the natural gas sources of Ilijan Block A (600 MW) and Ilijan Block B (600 MW) of KEPCO Ilijan Corporation in Ilijan, Batangas; and the San Gabriel Power Plant (420 MW), which is operated by the First NatGas Power Corporation (FNPC) in First Gen Clean Energy Complex in Batangas City.
Also part of the OMC outages are the 150 MW deficiency of the Malaya Thermal Power Unit 1 in Pililla, Rizal; and the 55 MW deficiency caused by Unit 5 of the MakBan Geothermal Power in Calauan, Laguna.
The largest forced outage during the day was caused by the condenser tube leak and ongoing washing of boiler and turbine to remove contaminated water from sodium and chloride of Team Energy Corporation’s (TEC) Sual Coal-fired Power Plant Unit 1.
DOE data show that TEC’s Sual coal-fired power plant, which has an installed capacity of 647 MW, was out of operations since last Oct. 11 and is estimated to resume operations on Oct. 21.
Others that are on forced outages to date are the Units 1 and 2 of Prime Meridian Power Corporation’s (PMPC) Avion Natural gas-fired power plant, both of which have a dependable capacity of 48 MW; Unit 1 of GNPower Mariveles Coal Plant Ltd. Co. (GMPC), which has a dependable capacity of 316 MW; Unit 1 of Aboitiz Power Renewables, Inc. (APRI) Tiwi Geothermal Power Plant, which has a 60MW dependable capacity; and the 12MW San Jose 1 Biomass Power Plant, which has an 11MW dependable capacity.
The resumption of operations of these five power plant’s units that are on forced outages is still being determined.
Aside from the forced outages, there are also power plants that are on de-rated operations to date and these include the SEM-Calaca Power Corporation (SCPC) Calaca Unit 2, from 300MW to just 200MW; Angat Hydropower Corporation (AHC) Angat Hydroelectric Power Plant Main Units 1-4, from 200MW to 160MW; and the First Gen Hydro Power Corporation’s (FGHPC) Pantabangan Hydroelectric Power Plant Units 1 and 2, from 120MW to zero.
Energy Undersecretary and spokesperson Felix William Fuentebella assured the public that DOE officials are closely watching the current state of Luzon’s capacity.
“We are closely monitoring the situation. The power bureau is on this,” he told journalists in a Viber message.
It has been a few months since the Luzon grid experienced capacity deficiency.
Yellow and red alert power situations are normally experienced in the grid during the summer months because the hydro-electric power plants are on maintenance shutdown due to water supply issues.
