Brownouts in Manila, power alert in Luzon

MANILA, PHILIPPINES - Luzon is now in the grip of a power supply deficiency - a problem that is certain to blow anyone's fuse.

Already, the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) has placed Luzon on red alert, citing a breakdown at one of the Sual power plant's units.

As a result, Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) started to implement two-hour rotating brownouts in Metro Manila and nearby areas, particularly in parts of Marikina, Manila, Quezon City, Bulacan and Cavite. NGCP said it hoped that by that same night the power unit would have been repaired and would immediately go online, restoring normal power supply in areas affected by the rotating brownouts.

Carlito Claudio, NGCP vice president for systems operations, said the red alert status meant that the Luzon grid did not have any reserves that could be used to address the temporary power supply deficiency caused by the power plant failure.

Claudio said in a phone interview that the current power deficiency of the Luzon grid stood at about 400 megawatts (MW).

Meralco said Sual unit 1 tripped at 12:41 p.m. that afternoon after it experienced feedwater pump trouble.

Meralco distributes some 300 MW of electricity from the Sual unit. That facility has a generation capability of 525 MW.

Meralco said it would continue to monitor the situation as it assured customers that it would provide timely updates.

According to Joe Zaldarriaga, Meralco external communications manager, the company remains unsure as to how long it will implement the rotating brownouts.

Zaldarriaga stressed that everything depended on the measures NGCP and operators of other power facilities would take.

Claudio meanwhile said he had received word from the operator of the Sual power plant that it had already begun restoration work at the unit.

Even before the failure of the Sual unit, the Luzon grid was already on "yellow alert," which meant that it had "thin power reserves," Claudio said.

Hinting at darker days ahead, NGCP said that the 540-MW Limay power plant is currently out due to ownership turnover problems involving San Miguel Energy Corp.

The 647-MW Sual unit 2 is also out. Claudio said the operator of the Sual plant was forced to shut down the facility's second unit early this month due to a lack of coal supply.

Likewise, the 200-MW Calaca plant is out due to a leak in its boiler tube, NGCP added. The 460-MW Quezon power facility is under maintenance, along with the 600-MW Ilijan unit block B.

Compounding Luzon's power problems are the island's hydroelectric plants, most of which have reported low levels of water.

The 1,000-MW Sual coal-fired power plant in Pangasinan is made up of two units and is currently being run by Team Energy.

In December 1999, the entire island of Luzon experienced a blackout after an "extraordinary" number of large jellyfish, which reportedly could have filled 50 dump trucks, clogged the water pumps of the same Sual power plant in Pangasinan.

During the last years of the Aquino administration, Filipinos endured daily power outages lasting up to 12 or more hours.