The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) miscalculated the demand for power in the Luzon Grid on Wednesday, a holiday, an event that also forced the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to suspend the operations of the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM).
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. himself reported the suspension of trades at the WESM, saying the ERC already acted to temporarily suspend WESM operations “to stop the spikes in power rates in the middle of calamities brought upon by El Niño.”.
The NGCP raised the yellow alert over the Luzon grid from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. as 1,409.3 megawatts were unavailable due to the de-rated operations of 22 power plants. It said the available capacity in the Luzon grid was only 15,026 MW versus peak demand of 12,899 MW.
As for the ERC, it said the suspension of market operations at WESM in Luzon and the Visayas was triggered by the series of red alert notices in recent weeks made compelling by the high heat index. The suspension only applies to the bidding process.
The ERC cited WESM data showing an 11 percent price surge in the Luzon grid and 53 percent in the Visayas grid on periods when the heat index rises and alert notices were issued, resulting to a significant impact in consumer charges.
The ERC also said Task Force El Niño bared the declaration of a state of calamity in 103 cities and municipalities due to extreme heat conditions experienced nationwide.
It said the WESM suspension will only be lifted if the available capacity, less actual regional demand, is more thab zero for 24 consecutive hours.
“The Commission is working doubly hard to alleviate the impact of El Niño on our power systems and we are finding ways to mitigate the impact of extremely high demand resulting from the high heat index as these ultimately affect our consumers,” said Monalisa Dimalanta, ERC chairperson, in a statement.
The Philippine Energy Efficiency Alliance (PE2) on Wednesday called for a strategic shift in addressing the country’s power supply deficits by directing focus toward management of peak demand as prerequisite to planning new generating and transmission capacities.
Alexander Ablaza, PE2 president, said stakeholders must initially exhaust all opportunities to flatten daily and seasonal peak demand curves prior to the planning of new power plants.
He said the thinning of power reserves each year is always brought about by the vicious cycle wherein the end-use economy perpetually requires more energy when ambient temperatures soar.
“The hotter the weather, the more energy is required to provide cooling through air conditioning and refrigeration. PE2 believes that our limited power supply capacities can be optimally planned and dispatched if we try to flatten our steep peak demand curves as an initial step. There is so much talk about beefing up our thinning reserves by accelerating the addition of new power plants but there are no conscious and concerted efforts toward shaving or shifting peak demand toward off-peak periods,” Ablaza said.
He said a significant portion of the country-wide 3,340 MW rise in summer demand can be flattened either by peak-shaving or load-shifting toward off-peak hours.
He said permanent peak shaving can be achieved through aggressive replacement of energy-intensive systems in the commercial, industrial, transport and government sectors with more efficient technologies and that a portion of the peak demand can be shifted to off-peak hours through a wide range of energy storage technologies that now include thermal, kinetic and battery energy storage systems.
“While it would be theoretically impossible to achieve a totally flat demand curve, our energy-use economy should at least aspire to reduce the 3.3 gigawatts bump in peak demand every summer,” Ablaza said.
