The Department of Energy (DOE) said as much as 300 megawatts (MW) of additional power supply are expected to come online during the warm dry months.
Mario Marasigan, DOE assistant secretary, said yesterday at the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon forum most of the projects are located in Luzon which can further help in boosting supply amid the expected demand surge due to higher temperature.
“Most of them will be in Luzon. There is one 150 MW coal plant that will be connected while the rest are renewable energy. There will be solar, biomass and some hydro. Around 300 MW in total will come online this summer,” Marasigan said.
However, the DOE did not provide details of the expected power plants to be operational soon.
Marasigan said based on latest monitoring and assessments of the DOE, power supply margins are more than enough compared to expected peak demands.
Luzon has an excess supply of 2,000 MW while Visayas and Mindanao have a surplus of 200 to 500 MW.
DOE added should El Niño weaken as project and rainfall will follow, several hydro power plants will be able to return and resume their operations.
“At present, only two of our hydro power plants are running on their installed capacities.
The others are either on maintenance shutdown or de-rated. If rains will start, (this) will cause additional water supply and therefore, more power generation. Rainfall will also result in lower temperature,” Marasigan said.
The DOE earlier warned yellow alerts may be experienced in April and May in the Luzon Grid as hydroelectric power plants run below capacity level due to the El Niño phenomenon.
Yellow alerts are issued when the level of power reserve in the grid is low while red alerts are declared when actual power supply against demand is insufficient and power interruptions are imminent.
