Parts of Luzon hit by power outage

MANILA, Philippines — Parts of Luzon experienced power outage yesterday after a transmission line tripped and isolated major power plants in Bataan.

The Department of Energy (DOE) said the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) raised the red and yellow alerts on the Luzon grid due to generation deficiency.

The red alert was implemented from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. and from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. The yellow alert was raised from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. and 11 p.m.

A yellow alert means power reserves were not enough to cover the largest running generating unit at the time, but does not necessarily lead to power outages.

A red alert means there is severe power deficiency and can lead to rotational power interruptions.

The DOE said the red alert triggered the power interruption in the franchise areas of Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) and other distribution utilities in Luzon.

Meralco said an automatic load dropping occurred at 1:53 p.m. Power was restored at around 2:11 p.m.

“This was due to the decrease of approximately 1,200 megawatts in Meralco’s load, affecting around 1.6 million customers in portions of Caloocan, Valenzuela, Malabon, Manila, Makati, Muntinlupa and Las Piñas in Metro Manila as well as parts of Bulacan, Rizal, Laguna, Batangas and Cavite,” it said.

The NGCP said Lines 1 and 2 of the 230-kiloVolt Hermosa-Bataan Combined Cycle Power Plant tripped and isolated the Bataan power plants, resulting in automatic load dropping at Meralco and NGCP feeders at around 1:53 p.m.

The DOE directed the NGCP to submit the list of customers affected by the power interruption and explain the details of the incident.

“The DOE has initiated its coordination with the Energy Regulatory Commission in addressing this matter,” the department said.