The Department of Energy (DOE) has assured the public that there will be no “red alert” warnings on the country’s power supply for the entire year. Energy Undersecretary Rowena Guevara stated that only “yellow alerts” are expected to be raised in different parts of the country.
A red alert is raised when there is insufficient power supply, which could lead to outages. Yellow alert, on the other hand, means thin power reserves which may not lead to rotational brownouts.
The official said they expect power demand to reach 13,125 megawatts this year in Luzon alone, and they anticipate the possibility of 15 yellow alerts in Luzon due to forced or scheduled outages or shutdowns of power plants. However, zero red alerts are expected.
Guevarra also noted that new plants would be added to the power generation mix, and new transmission lines would be opened to address congestion in the distribution of energy.
“Ang inaasahan po natin na magsipasok po ang tinatawag natin na for renewable energy. Ine-expect natin papasok na around 1,000 megawatts ngayong taon. At sa battery storage energy system mayroon po tayong 1,000 megawatts din po na posibleng pumasok,” she said.
The DOE’s projection takes into account a forced outage of 500-600 MW. However, based on historical data, there were instances when the grid lost more than 4,000 MW of power supply due to emergency shutdowns which, according to the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), cannot be predicted.
The NGCP earlier warned that the entire month of May may be under yellow alert, and the conditions could worsen if there are unexpected plant outages.
Nevertheless, backups are ready in the event that power plants experience forced or unscheduled outages. “Pero kung magkaroon naman ng forced outage, kailangan po tayo magpatakbo ng tinatawag natin na diesel power plants, tapos pwede rin tayo magpatakbo ng mga battery energy storage system at natural gas power plants,” Guevara added.
The DOE has assured the public that there will be stable power supply throughout the year, with yellow alerts as the only possible alerts that could be raised. However, the agency reminds the public to continue conserving energy and to report any anomalies or emergencies to concerned authorities immediately.
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