DOE Targets Full Electricity Restoration in Western Visayas by January 5

MANILA – The Department of Energy (DOE) has announced a plan to fully restore electricity in Western Visayas by Friday, January 5. This restoration effort follows a power outage that affected the region earlier in the week.

According to Philippines News Agency, the completion of the grid synchronization of power plants is crucial for this restoration. The grid is awaiting the integration of a 135-megawatt load from Palm Concepcion Power Corp. (PCPC), which is essential to stabilize the grid requiring about 300 megawatts. As of 3 p.m. on Thursday, 249 megawatts had been restored to the grid, with 198.1 megawatts originating from power plants in Panay and an additional 50.9 megawatts supplied by other facilities in the Visayas region.

The DOE outlined a specific timeline for the synchronization process, aiming for completion between 10 p.m. and 12 midnight on January 4, 2024. The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) will undertake the load restoration conservatively to prevent voltage failure, ensuring that the loads are matched to the restored generation capacity.

The power outage in Western Visayas, which occurred on January 2, was attributed to issues at the Panay Energy Development Corp. (PEDC) coal-fired power plant, specifically a malfunction in the boiler feed pump of Unit 1 and voltage imbalances in Units 1 and 2 of PCPC. This incident led to the tripping of two power plants in the Panay grid, which subsequently disrupted power delivery from other facilities in the Visayas grid.

In response to these events, the DOE has urged the NGCP to fulfill its responsibilities as a system operator, emphasizing the need for supply security and grid reliability. DOE Undersecretary Rowena Cristina Guevara pointed out that similar disturbances in the Panay and Negros sub-grids in April 2023 should have served as a lesson for all stakeholders involved. The DOE emphasized the critical role of the NGCP in monitoring the grid around the clock and coordinating with power plants to ensure their unit protection and control settings do not lead to grid instability and potential blackouts.