Yellow alert in Visayas grid still up Thursday

By Joann Villanueva

(PNA file photo)

MANILA – The unavailability of four coal-fired power plants continue to affect the capacity in the Visayas grid, resulting to another yellow alert status for Thursday, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.

The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), in an advisory, said total capacity in the grid to date is around 2,478 megawatts (MW), inadequate to meet contingency requirement as peak demand is projected to reach 2,291 MW.

This, as Units 1 and 2 of the Therma Visayas Inc. (TVI), Unit 1 of Kepco SPC Power Corp., Unit 1 of Cebu Energy Development Corp., and the 82-MW Toledo Power Co. coal-fired plant remain on forced outage. 

NGCP said more than 20 other power plants are unavailable since 2021 while 13 others are operating on derated capacities, resulting to a total loss of around 1,036.6 MW.

Storm impact 

Meanwhile, NGCP said the Itogon-Ampucao 23kV Line remains unavailable since 5:42 p.m. Wednesday due to the impact of Tropical Storm Maymay (international Kujira). 

The transmission line caters the Baguio Electric Cooperative, and the affected line impacts several areas namely Baguio City, Itogon and Tuba in Benguet, and Sison in Pangasinan. 

“NGCP has mobilized its line crews and is currently conducting patrols. Simultaneous restoration activities are also being conducted in areas already accessible,” the advisory said. 

The grid operator explained that“loss of power may be caused by affected transmission facilities of NGCP or distribution facilities of local distribution utilities or electric cooperatives.”

“Specific cities and municipalities affected by the power interruptions are determined by concerned Distribution Utilities, unless the outage affects the entire franchise area,” it added.

This article is republished from PNA.