Old plants supply 80% of power in Luzon
Credit to Author: JORDEENE B. LAGARE| Date: Mon, 13 May 2019 16:20:54 +0000
THE Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) said almost 80 percent of electricity generated in Luzon comes from aging power plants or those built about two decades ago.
In a roundtable discussion on Friday, ERC spokesman Florensida Digal said power plants in existence for 16 years and above constitute 72 percent of all facilities in the region.
Some 29.8 percent of all plants in operations have been supplying power for 16-20 years while 23.84 percent of facilities have been running for 21-25 years.
Those providing electricity for less than five years comprise 15.69 percent of the total number; while those in operation for 30 years and above form 15.02 percent; six to 10 years, 9.08 percent; 26-30 years, 3.06 percent; and 11-15 years, 2.59 percent.
The ERC presented the data amid the supply deficiency that struck the region over the past few months.
For this year, the National Grid Corp. (NGCP) issued red alert notice once and yellow alert notice four times in the Luzon grid as certain power plants were on unscheduled shutdown or running at a limited capacity.
The country’s grid operator first hoisted yellow alert notice on March 5 and then red alert notice on April 10.
The NGCP declares a red alert when contingency reserves reach zero which could lead to power outages in the grid while a yellow alert is raised when reserves are less than the capacity of the biggest plant in the grid which is 647 megawatts (MW) for Luzon.
Digal said based on their initial information review, the ERC discovered that 62 percent of power plants in existence for 16 years and above contributed to power outage that hit Luzon from March 5 to April 25.
“We could easily justify that facilities in operation for 26-30 years are easily damaged because of its wear and tear nature but for 0-5 year power plants, we are yet to delve into the reasons provided by power generation companies as to why these plants went on outage,” she said.
Prior to last Friday’s roundtable discussion, ERC Commissioner Catherine Maceda said the agency is awaiting the report of gencos on the cause of plant shutdowns and that they will validate their submissions with their own figures.
The commission sees as ‘allegations’ the claims that there is a collusion among market players to cash in on the unscheduled power outages.
“How can you regulate when you don’t know the state of affairs,” she said. “We impose the necessary sanctions, if necessary and after due process. The due process is always important,” she added.
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