Luzon grid on yellow alert on Thursday

The Luzon Grid will be placed under yellow alert status anew on Thursday afternoon, as 20 plants remain on forced outage while nearly 40 areas in the country are projected to experience a “danger level” of heat index.

NGCP said the Luzon grid will be placed on yellow alert from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. for having available peak capacity of 15,115 MW megawatts (MW) against a peak demand of 13,818 MW.

According to the NGCP,  4 plants have been on forced outage since 2023, 3 between January and March 2024, and 13 since April 2024; while 1 other is running on derated capacity, for a total of 1369.3 MW unavailable to the grid.

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

The Department of Energy (DOE) earlier said more yellow and red alerts are expected in the coming weeks, as the country has already exceeded its forecasted demand given the prevailing heat levels due to the El Niño.

Minority lawmakers in the House of Representatives are calling for a congressional inquiry into the red and yellow power alerts in Luzon and Visayas grids due to the unplanned outages of over 32 power plants.

The state weather bureau earlier on Thursday said 39 areas may experience a “danger level” of heat on Thursday, reaching as high as 48 degrees Celsius in Pili, Camarines Sur.

For its part, the Department of Health (DOH) has advised the public to use alternative cooling techniques such as using a wet towel, and sprinkling water using a spray bottle to combat the heat. --Jon Viktor D. Cabuenas/ VAL, GMA Integrated News