Luzon grid put on red alert after 5-plant outage

• 1 year, 6 months ago (2023-05-09)
• David Flin

Asia 892 Distribution 122 Transmission 191

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The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) announced that the Luzon power grid was placed on red alert on 8 May after five power plants declared forced outages.

In a statement, NGCP said that a red alert was raised over the Luzon power grid between 1pm and 4pm, and 6pm and 8pm. A yellow alert was also in force between 4pm and 6pm.

NGCP said that in addition to the forced outages, three other power plants were running at derated capacity. It estimated that, as a result, Luzon’s grid available capacity was 12 186 MW, with peak demand at 12 468 MW.

The Department of Energy (DOE) said that the Bolo-Masinloc 230 kV Line 2 tripped, which resulted in the tripping of Masinloc units 1 and 2. The Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines said that that other units that went on forced outage were the Calaca unit 1 coal-fired plant and units 1 and 4 of the Binga hydropower facility. The units running at derated capacity were units 1 and 2 of Sual, and unit 2 of Calaca.

The DOE said reduced power generation on Luzon affected exports to the Visayas grid, which declared a yellow alert between 5pm and 6pm.