Maaaring magkaroon ng power interruptions ngayong summer, pati na rin sa araw ng halalan

Ayon sa projections ng Manila-based policy group Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (ICSC), maaaring magkaroon ng power interruptions ngayong 2nd quarter ng taon, kabilang dito ang darating na halalan sa Mayo 9, kung mananatiling offline ang coal-fired power plants.

Muling pinahayag ng grupo ang kanilang natuklasan sa nauna nilang ulat na nilabas noong nakaraang buwan – na ang Luzon power grid ay makakaranas ng rotating “blackouts,” kahit sinabi ng grid operator sa kanyang summer power outlook na ito’y magiging “sufficient, but thin reserves” sa susunod na mga buwan.

“From NGCP’s (National Grid Corp. of the Philippines’) official power outlook, the thin operating reserves will start on the 3rd week of April 2022 until the last week of May 2022. If the baseload coal plants continue to be on shutdown during this critical period, the forced outages could deplete the thin operating reserve and could trigger rotating blackouts,” pahayag ni ICSC Chief Data Scientist Jephraim Manansala sa isang virtual briefing na batay sa ulat ng PhilStar.

Magaganap ang mga blackouts kung ang operating reserves o kung ang “power in excess of demand” ay mas bumaba sa grid requirement.

Sinabi rin ni Manansala na ilang coal plants, kabilang ang 300-megawatt (MW) Calaca Unit 2 at 123-MW SLTEC Unit 2, ay nanatiling naka-shutdown.

“We have also seen plenty of them (the power plants) to have already exceeded the ERC’s (Energy Regulatory Commission’s) mandated allowable days of outages…We’ve seen plants which still experience unplanned outages just a few weeks after their scheduled maintenance,” paliwanag niya.

Nabanggit rin ni Manansala na ang target na petsa ng commercial operations ng ikalawang unit ng coal-fired plant ng GN Power Dinginin (GNPD) “appear to not be feasible”, sapagkat ang unang unit ay umabot ng sampung buwan para lang matapos ang commissioning o testing stage.

Kung ang coal-fired power plant ay patuloy na nag-ooperate “unreliably,” hahantong ito sa pag-shutdown ng electrical power system at ng political power system.

Nauna nang sinabi ng senior policy advisor ng ICSC na si Pedro Maniego Jr. na ang “unreliable” supply ng kuryente ay makakasira sa kredibilidad ng Mayo 2022 polls.

Sapagkat, kailangan ng stable power upang makapag-transmit ng data ng polls.

(PhilStar)