With more than 30 power plants either offline or operating at lower capacities, resulting in either red or yellow alerts in the Luzon and Visayas grids, Filipinos have been asked to partake in the act of propping their poor old nation up by conserving energy in order to prevent further power interruptions or worse, a collapse of a bigger part of the grid.
The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines issues a red alert when the power supply is insufficient to meet consumer demand and that usually means rotating brownouts as it is forced to ration what is left of the remaining power. As it rations, areas will be cut off from power in order to stabilize the grid, which is in danger of collapsing, which means even more widespread and lengthier blackouts, if it fails to deliver the demand.
On the other hand, a yellow alert is issued when the operating margin is insufficient to meet the grid’s contingency requirement. This does not necessarily lead to power outages but it is a warning to all that the system’s limits are close to being reached.
The lack of power due to dozens of power plants being offline, either due to scheduled or unscheduled maintenance, the latter likely related to the intense heat which is not very conducive for the cooling systems of many thermal power plants, is a major problem that our government and the power sector has to urgently address, because it is an embarrassing statistic. They knew the weather was going to be hot. They knew the power demand. They had all the projections and yet they still failed miserably to provide the necessary power, including the allowances and redundancies, and so here we are now, forced to conserve energy for the sake of the nation.
Why is it that the government’s easiest solution to every problem in this country is for its people to adjust? Inflation? Tighten your belts. Traffic? Allocate more time for it. Learning crisis? Nah. Power Crisis? Conserve energy, guys.
The worst part about being asked to conserve energy is that we are currently enduring one of the hottest summers ever. This means air conditioning demand, which is one of the biggest energy hogs, is super high. Conserving energy will mean turning off aircons, which in this heat, is going to mean mucho discomfort. But at least that would be better than a widespread blackout if the grid overloads and shuts down.
Is there anything we can do but comply? Well, if you come to think of it, we can just carry on as usual and then leave it to the NGCP to manage the grid and resort to rolling blackouts when the power supply is no longer enough, in order to preserve the grid integrity. If you are lucky, your area might not even get hit by the rolling blackout roulette.
The other option is to be a good and resilient Filipino by lending a helping hand and switching off, or reducing the use or settings of power hungry appliances and devices, which in extreme cases could feel like a brownout except it’s not yet one. It is that kind of cooperation that could prevent rolling brownouts and it is the reason why the NGCP issues yellow and red alerts, so we know that a power outage is coming unless we make some temporary adjustments.
Aside from reducing power usage, there isn’t much we can do at this point but hope that the energy demand does not exceed the available supply, because that would mean rolling blackouts. Those who have PV systems installed on their residences can be glad that they are at least injecting some of the power they generate into the grid. If they are feeling especially patriotic and want to help out more, there is the option of not using the “free” aircon during these sweltering days, which would allow the home PV system to feed a few additional KW into the grid. But I wouldn’t blame them if they want to maximize their PV harvest by using it for their appliances instead of selling it to the power company at a discounted rate. This is actually something government can consider, which is to increase the rate at which the distribution utility can buy residential PV power during an energy crisis, in order to encourage homeowners to sell the power instead of consuming it. That, however, will require smart electric meters that can change the buying and selling rates of power, depending on the situation.
Anyway, we have been warned. The red and yellow alerts mean that brownouts are more likely than usual these days. As a people who have been raised under the constant threat of power interruptions, that situation is just slightly abnormal. But despite our famed resilience, it does add to our worries because there are now even more reasons for the power to go out, and that is why our cooperation will be appreciated by the power sector, which we have no choice but to help, even if it has failed us so many times before. That is part of being Filipino i guess.
If you come to think of it, as long as our government and the people who pull the figurative and literal strings of power don’t really care for us, things will stay the same. It’s probably a good thing we are a resilient bunch of doormats.*
