A top official of the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) on Thursday said power outage will likely not occur in the summer months of next year provided that no power plant conks out.
Meralco President Oscar Reyes said the utility firm has so far mapped out additional generating capacity when supply runs thin.
For instance, Meralco will buy the output of power suppliers via interim power supply agreements (IPSAs). Reyes said Meralco is eyeing about 530 megawatts (MW) of additional capacity from IPSAs.
“We are signing contracts with Global Business Power Corp., Bauang diesel power plant of 1590 Energy Corp., Limay and we’ll also sign with a new one, Makban, for 50 MW. I think, including Makban, about 529 MW of IPSA is good to cover summer [power-supply requirement] until July next year,” Reyes said.
Apart from IPSA, the utility firm is also banking on the Interruptible Load Program (ILP), which remains the viable solution to help solve the power-supply deficiency anticipated in the summer months of next year.
With the ILP, power supply from the grid that will not be consumed by participating customers will be available for use by other customers within the franchise area. Through this, the aggregate demand for power from the system will be reduced to a more manageable level, helping ensure the availability of supply during the season.
“We will continue working to get around 400 to 500 MW of committed interruptible load capacity from the ILP participants. We’ve signed up over 300 MW. Hopefully more, there’s a lot more outside the franchise area. We can sign them all the way up to March,” Reyes added.
With these measures in place, Meralco hopes that there will be no brownout during the summer months of 2015. “A lot depends on whether the existing plants will run. The DOE [Department of Energy] cleared March to June of maintenance shutdowns other than Malampaya tie-un. At least on scheduled shutdowns, we are okay. But when you talk about forced outages, we’re just hoping the plants will operate on good condition,” Reyes said.
Meanwhile, the DOE has assured that existing measures and methods to safeguard the supply of energy next summer are being pursued. Energy Secretary Carlos Jerico L. Petilla said he has been hands-on in the promotion and monitoring of potential ILP participants.
Since the start of 2014, the energy department has conducted and continues to conduct meetings and consultative dialogues with the participants, getting their opinions and inquiries regarding the program. “Power generation is a shared effort of both the public and private sectors…. Their participation on the ILP is a fulfillment of this promise,” he said.
The ILP is voluntary in nature, hence, it does not promise a “zero-brownout” scenario. Based on the current ILP protocol, the program will be implemented the moment red alert hits.
Also, the DOE, through the Energy Utilization Management Bureau (EUMB), is already implementing energy-conservation measures to decrease the power demands.
In a recent department circular issued in August, the DOE enjoins both government and private offices to practice energy efficiency through putting their cooling systems to 25 degrees Celsius, as well as the use of efficient lighting.
The EUMB is tasked under the circular to intensify the campaign and organize consultations to stakeholders for the effective promotion of energy efficiency and conservation.
Likewise, the agency is speeding up the completion of committed projects through a series of site visits and updates from power companies. Through the DOE’s initiative, existing power plants already rescheduled their maintenance shutdowns on a later date to support the energy requirements of Luzon next summer.
The Energy department, added Petilla will continue to monitor the power situation and will intensity measures to assure stable power supply in the coming summer months, through all its concerned bureaus.