Gov’t to gencos: Quickly restore power plants in Visayas, Mindanao

Metro Manila, Philippines - The Department of Energy (DOE) has ordered generation companies in the Visayas and Mindanao to quickly restore power plants on forced outages to stabilize power supply.

The directive was issued in the wake of another declaration by the grid operator of thin reserves on the Visayas Grid on Tuesday, Aug. 5, the third for the month. The Mindanao Grid was on the same alert on Aug. 1. 

“The restoration of these facilities must be treated with utmost urgency,” Energy Secretary Sharon Garin said in a statement.

She said Energy Undersecretary Mario Marasigan would coordinate with the generation companies to get “clear and realistic” timelines for the full return of service.

“We expect full cooperation and accountability — delays are no longer acceptable at this point,” Garin said.

According to the DOE, 14 generation facilities were on forced outage in the Visayas Grid, which have a capacity of 385.1 megawatts (MW). Five plants were at less than capacity, reducing available supply by 348.4 MW.

The agency said 11 others were on outage in the Mindanao Grid, affecting 558.8 MW. Three plants were at derated capacities to bring down available supply by 41 MW.

“To complement these efforts, the DOE has also instructed private distribution utilities to prepare for the possible activation of the Interruptible Load Program, a demand-side mechanism designed to ease grid pressure by tapping large consumers with standby generation,” the DOE said.

“More Electric and Power Corporation and Visayan Electric Company have already committed to activating their customers’ standby generators,” it added.

Garin told the public and industrial and commercial establishments to conserve electricity.