A narrowing of electricity reserves are to blame for the rotating power interruptions lasting 1.5 hours on Saturday within the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) franchise area.
This was stressed on Sunday by Meralco, saying the power interruptions affected nearly 2 million customers in parts of Batangas, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, Metro Manila, Pampanga, Rizal and Quezon as the Luzon grid was placed on red alert.
“Due to the significant supply deficiency, rotational power interruptions had to be implemented across Luzon, including in Meralco’s service areas, to manage the system condition,” said Joe Zaldarriaga, Meralco spokesperson and head of corporate communications, in a statement.
Meralco highlighted the support of its commercial and industrial customers which de-loaded collective capacity of more than 200 megawatts to help mitigate the impact of thinning reserves lasting half the day Saturday.
“We sincerely apologize to our customers for the inconvenience caused by this challenging situation. We continue to proactively exhaust all demand-side management efforts to help minimize, if not avert, power interruptions,” Zaldarriaga said.
Meralco assured customers it is monitoring the situation 24/7 and prepared to activate the Interruptible Load Program or the voluntary rationing of electricity, should this be needed.
The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) said Saturday’s power interruptions arose from the loss of 4,682.3 MW in the Luzon grid.
Combined generation of 3,822.3 MW were lost to the grid and another 860 MW derated.
Grid capacity on Saturday totaled only 12,706 MW versus peak demand of 11,955 MW.
Apart from Meralco, electric cooperatives in Pangasinan, Batangas, Albay, Sorsogon, Quezon Province, Ilocos Sur, Nueva Vizcaya, Ifugao, Pampanga, Camarines Norte, La Union, Cagayan, Apayao, Zambales, Tarlac, Baguio, Benguet, Nueva Ecija, Isabela and Camarines Sur reported rotational power interruptions Saturday.
Under normal conditions, available capacity in the grid total 14,276 MW and peak demand is only 10,763 MW, which explains why the NGCP did not raise supply alert levels.
The Meralco said all services were restored in full by 11:47 p.m Saturday.
