Part Two
THE demand, supply and weekly reserve data that the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) submitted to the Department of Energy (DOE) were mainly based on the power generators’ proposed planned outage schedule for the first half of the year. The BusinessMirror obtained a list of major power plants in Luzon that are scheduled to go offline this year to undergo maintenance work.
One of these is the Calaca 1, which underwent maintenance shutdown at the start of the year. The 300-megawatt (MW) power plant is still offline but expected to resume operations in the second half of April.
Likewise, the 367.5-MW Pagbilao 1 is still out from March to June this year. It will go online on June 6. It is the only power plant allowed to go on maintenance shutdown from April up to early June.
Meanwhile, Santa Rita module 10 (250 MW) will resume operations in early April, following a maintenance shutdown that commenced in March.
The Santa Rita module 40 and the San Lorenzo modules 50 and 60, with a capacity of 250 MW each, will go offline on separate days in June.
The Santa Rita module 40 will resume operations in July, along with the Santa Rita module 10, 20 (250 MW) and 30 (250 MW), which are also set to undergo maintenance shutdown for a few days in the same month.
The 300-MW Calaca 2 will shut down for a few days in July and the whole month of August up to early September. Pagbilao 2 (367.5 MW) is also out from June 20 up to July 4, while Sual 2 (600 MW) will be offline from August 5 to September 3 this year.
Post-summer
SHERWIN T. Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy, said they expect the power supply as stable for the summer season.
“From our briefings with the DOE and from our internal assessment, as long as walang malaking planta na papalya, we’re quite stable for summer,” Gatchalian said when sought for comment.
However, toward the end of the year, the data indicates significant shutdowns. This is because there will be simultaneous outages of Sual 1 (600 MW), San Lorenzo module 60 and Southwest Luzon Power Generation Corp. (SLGPC).
Based on the schedule, Sual 1 will go offline on September 16 up to October 15. The San Lorenzo module 60 is scheduled for maintenance from end-September to end-October. The SLGPC’s Unit 2 (150 MW) is out from end-September to mid-October.
For November, only one power facility is scheduled for maintenance. This is the San Lorenzo module 50.
For December, San Lorenzo module 50 and 60 will go offline for a few days.
“I think the supply of power is adequate,” Meralco Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan said, referring to the summer months. However, “sometime October”, Pangilinan expressed concern.
“We might see pressure arising from some of these plants being shut down for maintenance,” he said in an interview.
Meralco deals
MERALCO has power-supply agreements (PSAs) with Calaca, Pagbilao, Sual, Santa Rita and San Lorenzo plants. The utility firm is preparing on how to fill up its supply requirements when these plants are out.
AbotizPower Corp., a major player in the power sector, said the country has “plenty of power”.
AboitizPower President Antonio Moraza said when the Malampaya gas field went offline for 20 days from January 28 to February 16 “there was no effect” on power supply, even as some power plants’ maintenance schedule coincided with that of Malampaya’s.
“I told [Energy Secretary Alfonso G.] Cusi that if there is one thing he should not be worried about, [it] is power supply. The country has sufficient power,” Moraza said. “I can’t project an end of the world scenario but, with normal demand, we should not have issues at all. Mindanao is bursting with power, as well.”
Study implications
TO better plan ahead, the DOE wants to compel power firms to make public the planned schedule of their power plants that will undergo maintenance shutdown.
Under the current setup, power firms submit to the NGCP their preferred schedule one year ahead of the actual planned shutdown. The NGCP, for its part, coordinates with the power-generation firms regarding their planned maintenance activity. Both parties try to adjust the schedule if necessary. The grid operator said the DOE is also being consulted on this.
Cusi said his office is the one that approves the proposed maintenance schedule, “but we want to make it known to the public. We want to post it on our web site.”
Gatchalian, however, is apprehensive on Cusi’s move, saying doing so may have an effect on the wholesale price at the spot market.
“Ang ayaw natin dito magkaroon ng [What we don’t want here is to have an] information and use that information to collude,” Gatchalian said. “Then again, we have to study the implications.”
Crucial move
GATCHALIAN stressed that planning is crucial in preventing power outages during maintenance shutdowns. As such, he proposed for the DOE to exert its authority to prevent curtailment of power.
“[The] DOE needs the legislation to give them more teeth,” the senator said. “Dapat wala nang pakiusap, more on reinforcement dapat para hindi tayo mawalan ng kuryente [There should be no more pleading but more on reinforcement so that we won’t have a power outage].”
In the past years, it is the DOE chief that requests power firms to hold off their maintenance schedule during summer months when demand for electricity is at its peak.
“From what I learned, nakikiusap lang ang mga previous DOE secretaries, but di naman pwedeng nakikiusap lang,” Gatchalian said. “There has to be a stronger mandate for the DOE para hindi sabay-sabay ang [so there would be no simultaneous] shutdowns.”
He added the shutdowns also affect the pricing: market prices will also go up.
“The forecasting should be reviewed also,” Gatchalian said, adding that “if the DOE needs the legislation then we can propose one.”
Gatchalian’s proposed legislation is not yet in place, but he stressed that the end goal here is to give the DOE more teeth.
“It will be a collective effort of the system operator [NGCP] and also the DOE.”
To be continued