PEAK DEMAND. Meralco head of utility economics Larry Fernandez speaks at a briefing at the Meralco Headquarters in Pasig City on Wednesday (April 17, 2024). During the briefing, Fernandez said the peak demand in 2023 at 8,400 megawatts in Meralco franchise areas has already been surpassed last Monday (April 15, 2024). (Screenshot from Meralco's Facebook page)
MANILA – Peak demand for electricity is usually expected in the second week of May, but the maximum electricity demand in 2023 was already surpassed last Monday, an executive from Manila Electric Company (Meralco) said.
In a briefing in its headquarters in Pasig City on Wednesday, Meralco head of utility economics Larry Fernandez said the electricity consumption in Meralco franchise areas on April 15 exceeded the maximum demand last year of 8,400 MW.
“We can expect the power demand to continue to increase. So we’re hoping that the power plants can continue to operate reliably to avoid what happened yesterday. Between now and May, we still expect demand to go up,” Fernandez said.
On Tuesday, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) issued red and yellow alert status in the Luzon grid, and a yellow alert in the Visayas grid following the forced outages of some power plants that aggravated the power supply.
A yellow alert status was also declared on Wednesday in the Luzon grid from 1 p.m. to 11 p.m. and in the Visayas grid from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m.
The NGCP said 18 power plants are on forced outage, while three are running on derated capacities in the Luzon grid.
The Visayas grid, on the other hand, has 13 power plants on unforeseen shutdown and five others on derated capacities.
Department of Energy (DOE) Assistant Secretary Mario Marasigan said in an interview with Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon on Wednesday that at least two plants target to bring back their full operation within this month.
In a message to the Philippine News Agency, Marasigan said the Pagbilao Coal-Fired Power Plant Units 1 and 2 target to return to the grid on Saturday (April 20), while the Masinloc Coal-Fired Power Plant Unit 1 eyes full restoration by April 30.
“What we really need is additional capacity in the system. So when you mention of additional capacity, it simply means more power plants coming on stream, especially new ones,” Meralco spokesperson and head of corporate communications Joe Zaldarriaga said.
“Because at the end of the day, the question is, can the supply meet the growing demand? And yesterday is an indication that—we are, of course, to implement a rotating interruptions schedule or manual load dropping —that demand has outstripped supply,” he added.
Zaldarriaga enjoined consumers to practice energy efficiency to manage the electricity demand. (PNA)
