Luzon grid may face red alerts until June 10 amid low power reserves

The Department of Energy (DOE) warned that the Luzon grid might experience red alerts until June 10 due to insufficient power reserves.

DOE Director Mario Marasigan stated that regulating reserves would remain insufficient, leading to potential red alerts.

Forced outages on Thursday removed 1,372 megawatts (MW) from the grid due to the unavailability of units from Pagbilao, GNPower Mariveles, and Calaca coal-fired plants.

Additionally, planned outages took out 435 MW, with three units of San Roque Power Corp.'s hydroelectric plant still offline.

The NGCP declared a 'white alert' on Friday morning, but it shifted to a 'yellow alert' in the afternoon.

In the week of June 4 to 10, reserve requirements in the grid would be falling below 400 megawatts.

Power reserves are expected to increase starting June 11 with the anticipated return of the TPC Pagbilao Unit 2 and GMEC Mariveles Unit coal plants.