TAGUIG CITY - The Department of Energy (DOE) is continuously monitoring the supply and demand situation in the Luzon Grid. 

 

The rotating power interruption was mainly caused by the forced or unplanned outages of power plants and the lack of ancillary services owned or operated by the private sector. 

 

*UNPLANNED OUTAGES*

 

The insufficient supply that resulted to the power outages in the last 3 days was caused by the unplanned or forced outages of the following generation plants that are owned by the private sector:

 

1.  *GMEC Coal-fired Power Plant Units 1 and 2* of GNPower Mariveles Energy Center Ltd. Co. (GMEC) / Aboitiz Power

      - 2 x 345 MW (690 MW)

 

2.  *Calaca Coal-fired power plant Unit 2* of Sem-Calaca Power Corporation

      - 300 MW

 

3.  *Pagbilao Coal-fired power plant Unit 2* of TeaM Energy Corporation and Therma Luzon Inc.  as IPPA       

      - 382 MW

 

4. *Sual Coal-fired power plant Unit 2* of TeaM Sual Corporation and San Miguel Energy Corporation as IPPA       

      - 647 MW

 

The extended scheduled maintenance and the deration of the following plants likewise contributed to the deficiency:

 

*PLANNED OUTAGES*

 

1. *San Roque Hydroelectric Power Plant Units 1, 2 and 3* of San Roque Power Corporation (SRPC) 

- 3 x 145 MW (435 MW)

 

Please refer to the Tables for May 31, June 1 and June 2. 

 

*ANCILLARY SERVICES* 

 

The power system is also strengthened by the presence of power generators that are ready to provide the necessary ancillary services (AS) all the time in order to provide a continuous and more secure power supply. The presence of the AS becomes more important to address the occurrence of unplanned outages of power plants. 

 

The AS includes:

 

1. regulating reserve (RR) which is 4% of the peak demand; 

 

2. contingency reserve (CR) which is the largest unit operating in a particular grid (647MW in Luzon, 166 MW in Visayas and 150 MW in Mindanao); and 

 

3. dispatchable reserve (DR) which is the second largest unit online (current the same capacities as that of the CR in the three grids).  

 

The DOE policy on AS issued in 2019 required NGCP to have firm contracts and this includes the negotiation of the non-firm to firm contracts.  

 

However, as of December 2020, the NGCP has failed to comply with the required firm AS contracts. In particular, Luzon has only 48% RR, 28% CR and 22% DR. For Visayas, 0% RR, 43%  CR and 57% DR while in Mindanao, there are no firm contracts for all types of AS.

 

*Please refer to the AS Table*

 

*WAY FORWARD**

 

The DOE continues to monitor the power situation and will submit factual information for the consumers and the enforcement agencies, including the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), the Philippine Competition Commission and the Department of Justice, considering its long term strategy of addressing the power supply and demand situation during the summer season. It continues to remind the distribution utilities and the system operator of its contracting obligations to address the needed capacity increases for a reliable power system for its consumers.