Rotating brownouts in Luzon are expected today because of the generation-related deficiency. The specific affected areas and the duration and schedule of brownouts per area will be determined by the local distribution utility. The supply situation is expected to normalize once the unavailable capacities or the plants on shutdown or running on limited capabilities are back and synchronized to the grid, or once the demand recedes.

 

It is NGCP’s obligation under the law and its franchise to ensure that the grid operates at an optimum level with due consideration for safety, security and reliability. NGCP is closely monitoring the situation and continues to be in close coordination with the Department of Energy (DOE) to ensure that all the capacities available to the grid are dispatched efficiently.

 

NGCP does not control power supply but during periods of generation deficiency, it does its best to mitigate the situation by implementing the grid-wide power load curtailment to maintain the grid’s security and reliability.

 

NGCP, as System Operator, issues Grid Operation Notices to grid users. “Red alert” refers to the system condition when the contingency reserve is zero or a generation deficiency exists, while a “Yellow alert” is a system condition where the total of all reserves is less than the capacity of the largest plant online, which for the Luzon grid, is 647 MW.   When system reserves are more than sufficient to meet the reserve requirements of the grid, the system is considered to be under normal condition. The system alert, and the corresponding power curtailment, if any, is lifted once demand recedes or once there is enough available capacity coming into the grid from the power plants.