Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) – Grid operators raised a red alert status over the Luzon grid on Monday (June 29) because of dwindling power reserves.
This means the grid had no back-up power, and a blackout threatened to hit Luzon between 2:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m.
Energy officials said 10 power plants failed to run because of technical difficulties, shedding off over 1,275 megawatts from the grid.
Four other power plants are on scheduled maintenance shutdown, further reducing supply by 781 megawatts.
Several power plants shut down, according tot eh Department of Energy.
“And that’s why we’re investigating,” Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla said.
Ilijan, he said, was on maintenance. Pagbilao may have extended its operation, though it’s supposed to be shut down for maintenance on June 30.
There was no reported rotational power outage, though.
Joe Zaldarriaga, Meralco spokesperson, explained: “It doesn’t necessarily follow that once may red alert status, there are actual brownouts.”
The power sector prepared measures to reduce the impact of a worse situation.
Meralco told Interruptible Load Program (ILP) participants to be on standby.
The ILP is a temporary measure that calls for big power users to disconnect from the grid and run on generator sets when the supply gets tight.
The Visayas grid is also ready to augment the supply for Luzon.
Energy officials said they expected conditions in the Luzon grid to improve by Tuesday (June 30) as some power plants would return to normal operation.
Though consumers were spared from blackouts, they may have to pay more for electricity next month, Zaldarriaga warned.
He said Meralco would would know in the coming weeks whether there was a spike in power prices because of the shortage.
The last red-alert status of the Luzon grid was in September 2014.
