‘Insufficient operation reserves’ force Luzon grid on red, yellow alerts

The Department of Energy (DoE) assured the public that despite possible shortfalls in power supply in the country, outages will be kept to a minimum, usually in a last-case scenario.

“Yellow and red alerts [in the Luzon grid] have been caused by insufficient operating reserves due to the forced outages of multiple power plants,” said Energy Undersecretary and spokesperson Felix William “Wimpy” Fuentebella during a recent press conference at its Taguig headquarters.

Based on data released recently by the DoE, at least eight Luzon power plants were on forced outages.

This followed the department’s earlier advisories of red and yellow alerts from 10 in the morning to 8 in the evening: 10 a.m to 1 p.m., yellow alert; 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., red alert; 4 p.m. to 5 p.m., yellow alert; 5 p.m. to 6 p.m., normal condition; and, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., yellow alert.

A yellow alert indicates that power reserves have failed to hold the minimum 647 megawatts. The Energy department, on the other hand, assured that a yellow warning does not necessarily result in a power outage.

However, depending on the conditions of systems in Luzon power plants, the likeliness of power outages is still possible.

Likewise, a red alert, which is the maximum warning, entails that there is not enough power supply and the commanding agencies could, in any minute, implement rotational brownouts in specific areas.

In line with the series of outages, DoE calls on consumers to be frugal with their power use.

“We want to encourage our consumers to go on with their activities without having to waste energy,” pleaded Fuentebella while enumerating power efficiency tips.