NGCP implements rotational brownouts in Visayas grid

The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) on Wednesday afternoon said it is implementing rotating brownouts in several areas across the Visayas grid.

In an advisory, the NGCP said it might implement Manual Load Dropping (MLD) or rotational power interruptions in the following areas from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. “to maintain the integrity of the power system”:

• VECO
• MECO
• CEBECO I
• CEBECO II
• CEBECO III
• NEPC
• NORECO II
• AKELCO
• CAPELCO
• ILECO II
• NOCECO
• NORECO I
• MORE
• ANTECO
• ILECO I
• ILECO III
• GUIMELCO
• LEYECO II
• LEYECO III
• LEYECO IV
• LEYECO V
• SOLECO
• DORELCO
• NORSAMELCO
• SAMELCO II
• BLCI
• BOHECO I
• BOHECO II
• NONECO
• ESAMELCO

“Schedule may be cancelled if system condition improves, such as if actual demand falls below projections. NGCP encourages everyone to exercise prudence in using electricity,” the grid operator said.

The NGCP placed the Visayas power grid under red alert from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. and under yellow alert from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m.

The grid is operating at a capacity of 2,510 megawatts (MW) against a peak demand of 2,413 MW.

The NGCP said the following factors that contributed to the raising of red and yellow alerts:

• Forced outage of TVI Unit 1 (169MW), TVI Unit 2 (169MW), PEDC Unit 3 (150MW)
• Unavailable import from Luzon
• High System Demand

A yellow alert is issued when the operating margin is insufficient to meet the transmission grid’s contingency requirement.

Meanwhile, a red alert is the highest alert level and is declared when the electricity supply is insufficient to meet demand because reserves are depleted.

During this status, widespread power interruptions or rotational brownouts are expected as electricity is temporarily cut in certain areas on a scheduled basis to prevent the entire grid from collapsing. — JMA, GMA News