NGCP raises alert level in Mindanao, too

CAGAYAN DE ORO, Philippines – The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) raised the alert level for a few hours in Mindanao on Wednesday, April 24, as nine power plants went on a forced outage while five others ran on derated capacities.

The Mindanao power grid was placed by the NGCP under “yellow alert” from 10 am until 3:09 pm, a situation when “the operating margin is insufficient to meet the transmission grid’s contingency requirement.” 

In an advisory, the NGCP said 673.98 megawatts were unavailable for the Mindanao grid.

The NGCP said the peak demand in Mindanao on Wednesday was 2,761 MW with only available power at 2,614 MW, leaving an operating margin of only 147 MW.

“As of 3:09 pm, [the] yellow alert has been lifted by NGCP for the Mindanao grid,” read a text message sent by NGCP corporate communications officer for Western Mindanao Beth Ladaga.

The NGCP gave no explanation about how the power supply in Mindanao was stabilized. Neither did it identify the power plants affected by the forced outage and those which operated on derated capacities.

The red and yellow alerts have been raized in the Luzon and Visayas grids since last week, with the Department of Energy attributing it to extreme heat. – Rappler.com