Brownouts to hit Luzon as power grid goes on red alert due to low power reserves
Rotating brownouts will affect areas in Metro Manila and Luzon today due to an absence of power reserves in the grid brought about by the double whammy of high consumer demand and a number of power plants going offline.
The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) said that the Luzon grid will be on red alert today from 10 am to 5 pm, and from 6 pm to 10 pm. This is because reserves have been wiped out at peak hours as available capacity is at 11,408 megawatts (MW) while peak demand is now higher at 11,593 MWs.
In the latest update from the Department of Energy (DOE), eight power plants, with a total capacity of 1,314 MWs, were reported to be offline. Of these power plant outages, three were scheduled while five were unplanned according to the DOE.
Meralco has announced that it will implement two-hour rotating brownouts today in the following areas from 10 AM to 12 PM:
CAVITE PROVINCE
General Trias
Pasong Kawayan 1 and Pasong Kawayan 2
Tanza
Bagtas, Biga, Bunga, Daang Amaya 1, Mulawin, Paradahan 1, Paradahan 2, Punta 1, Punta 2, Sanja Mayor, Santol, Tanauan and Tres Cruses
Trece Martirez City
Aguado, Cabuco, De Ocampo, Gregorio, Hugo Perez, Lapidario, Luciano and San Agustin
BULACAN PROVINCE
San Jose del Monte City
Gaya-gaya
Balagtas
Pulong Gubat
Bocaue
Batia, Tambobong and Turo
Bustos
Malawak
Pandi
Bagong barrio, Baka-bakahan, Bunsuran 1, Bunsuran 2, Bunsuran 3, Cacarong Bata, Cacarong Matanda, Cupang, Malibong Bata, Malibong Matanda, Mapulang Lupa, Masuso, Pinagkuartelan, Poblacion, San Roque, Siling Bata and Siling Matanda
Santa Maria
Lalakhan, Manggahan, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz
METRO MANILA
Caloocan City
Bagong silang, Bagong Silang – Kaliwa, Bagong Silang – Kanan, Bagumbong and Camarin
Valenzuela
Caruhatan, Hen T. de Leon, Malinta, Maysan, Parada and Poblacion
Quezon City
Kalusugan, Mariana/Damayan Lagi and Marilag
San Juan
Ermitaño
LAGUNA PROVINCE
Cabuyao
Baclaran, Banaybanay, Banlic, Gulod, Mamatid, Marinig, Pulo and San isidro
Calamba
Banlic, Looc, Paciano rizal, San Cristobal, Uwisan, Barandal, Batino, Canlubang, Hornalan, Laguerta, Majada Loob, Majada Out, Mayapa, Paciano Rizal, Palo-alto and Sirang Lupa
Outside of Meralco, these areas in Luzon will also be hit by outages as the NGCP implements manual-load dropping or rotating brownouts to manage the power supply:
10AM-11AM:
BENECO (parts of Baguio City and Benguet)
NEECO II-Area 1 (parts of Nueva Ecija)
SAJELCO (San Jose City, Nueva Ecija)
PAMES (Pantabangan, Nueva Ecija)
QUEZELCO I (parts of Quezon)
SORECO I (parts of Sorsogon).
(Banner photo The Philippine Star file)