PH energy demand soars due to record-high heat

The Manila Times

PH energy demand soars due to record-high heat  Energy Assistant Secretary Mario Marasigan says the Philippines' current power consumption officially surpasses the agency's projections for energy usage amid the record-breaking heat. He assured, however, that there was sufficient power supply despite  the soaring demand for cooling and electricity. He said that the causes of power outages stemmed from hydropower plants coping with low water levels caused by El Niño, aside from regular repairs and maintenance of the other plants.  Video and Interview by Ezrah Raya  Subscribe to The Manila Times Channel - https://tmt.ph/YTSubscribe   Visit our website at https://www.manilatimes.net   Follow us:  Facebook - https://tmt.ph/facebook  Instagram - https://tmt.ph/instagram  Twitter - https://tmt.ph/twitter  DailyMotion - https://tmt.ph/dailymotion   Subscribe to our Digital Edition - https://tmt.ph/digital   Check out our Podcasts:  Spotify - https://tmt.ph/spotify  Apple Podcasts - https://tmt.ph/applepodcasts  Amazon Music - https://tmt.ph/amazonmusic  Deezer: https://tmt.ph/deezer  Stitcher: https://tmt.ph/stitcher Tune In: https://tmt.ph/tunein  #TheManilaTimes #tmtnews #philippines #PHenergy #energy  #summer

Transcript

00:00 I'm Ezra Araya and this is the Manila Times.

00:03 Record high heat in the Philippines have driven power outages across the regions, leaving

00:08 areas without electricity.

00:11 As temperatures reach over 50 degrees Celsius, a surge in electricity demand, especially

00:17 for cooling, has strained the power grid.

00:20 The situation is made worse by grid instability as Luzon and Visayas grids enter yellow alert,

00:27 meaning low power supply.

00:30 Weather Bureau Pag-asa warns that the hottest days are still ahead in this month of May.

00:36 Here with us is Department of Energy DOE Assistant Secretary Mario Maracigan.

00:43 Welcome to the Manila Times, sir.

00:45 Thank you very much, Ms. Ezra, and good morning to all.

00:49 Sir, give us an update on the current electricity demand nationwide and in Metro Manila.

00:56 Well, currently there is an increasing demand in Metro Manila as well as the entire Philippines.

01:06 And we tried to correlate this and we were able to check with the Department of Science

01:15 and Technology, particularly Pag-asa, and apparently there is a direct correlation between

01:21 the increasing heat at the moment.

01:26 With the combination of the El Nino and the summer period.

01:30 So these increasing temperatures that is prevailing in the country apparently cause also for the

01:38 increasing, continuously increasing demand for electricity.

01:42 Yes, sir.

01:43 Because it's so hot, like what you said, it's already dry and it's still summer days.

01:48 So it's so hot.

01:49 And then Pag-asa warns also that the hottest days are still ahead in this month of May.

01:56 So sir, let us know, what is the situation of the power supply for Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao?

02:04 Well currently we have sufficient supply of electricity for the country in all grids,

02:11 Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

02:13 However, the combination of the increasing, continuously increasing demand and the failures

02:19 or outages of some of our generating facilities, which were unexpected, caused the issue one

02:29 says of red alerts starting some three weeks ago.

02:33 It's April 16th, to be exact, the first time that we have a yellow and red alerts announcement

02:39 by our system operator.

02:42 And on April 24 this year, we have actually surpassed our projected peak demand for the

02:51 entire year.

02:52 We have projected some 13,917 megawatts peak requirement for Luzon.

03:01 This was already surpassed on April 24 with a peak demand of 14,016 megawatts.

03:11 So it's over by 99 megawatts.

03:14 And it's still not on the second or third week of May where we projected that peak demand.

03:24 Also for Visayas and Mindanao, we were able to record the peak demand for the year at

03:32 2,586 megawatts against 2,891 megawatts for Visayas and 2,534 megawatts against 2,584

03:45 megawatts for Mindanao.

03:47 Although this has not surpassed our peak projection, peak demand projections for the year, this

03:54 is very near to our projection.

03:57 In Visayas, it's only around 305 megawatts while 50 megawatts in Mindanao.

04:04 If we will compare this as well with what happened last year, in 2023, all our peak

04:13 projections for 2023 are actually below our projections.

04:22 Our projections for Luzon is 575 megawatts below and the actual peak demands for Visayas

04:30 and Mindanao were 233 and 72 megawatts below our projections.

04:37 So what's happening now is really higher.

04:40 Of course, we have to take note that the combination of El Nino and Samar, which is absent last

04:47 year.

04:48 Sir, I have a question.

04:53 Is that nationwide?

04:54 No, that's only for Luzon.

04:57 That's only for Luzon.

04:59 You mentioned that we have surpassed these projected power demand.

05:04 So do we have enough energy to supply the surpassing actual demand of energy?

05:11 Do we have enough?

05:12 Supposedly yes.

05:13 However, there were issuances of yellow and red alerts because there were emergency shutdowns

05:22 and outages in our large power plants.

05:28 So with the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines, NGCP, released alerts a few days

05:33 ago or one day ago, yellow and red alerts for Luzon and Visayas.

05:38 So what's causing these power outages, sir?

05:42 Is it too much power demand or something else?

05:46 Well, there are so many causes why these power plants were on outages.

05:52 Number one, we can see that our hydropower capacities were definitely below its actual

06:00 potential because of the low water level.

06:07 Because in El Nino, our expected rainfall did not reach because of the El Nino, that's

06:13 why the water level is lower now.

06:15 We are conserving water not only for power generation because our dams are being served

06:23 to include our domestic uses and irrigation.

06:27 So if we don't use water for irrigation and domestic usage, it will not produce electricity

06:34 because it's the same water.

06:37 So that's number one causes.

06:39 Number two causes, there were power plants that are maintaining their facilities in accordance

06:47 to our grid operating and maintenance program.

06:51 This is what the Department of Energy is approving, the schedules of power plant maintenance.

06:58 However, some of them discovered that they need additional days because they have additional

07:08 requirements to complete their maintenance program.

07:12 So they had an extension.

07:15 Even some who were on forced outages or emergency shutdown, they were expecting to immediately

07:22 repair their power facilities.

07:25 Unfortunately, they encountered many challenges and they were not able to complete their repair

07:32 services.

07:33 The third cause is the power plants that had sudden or emergency shutdown.

07:43 The problem is internal to them.

07:45 Number one cause is the boiler tube leaks where the pipes of generation facilities

07:54 are leaking when it comes to their steam generation.

07:58 And this caused the power plant to shut down.

08:02 Sir that's good to know.

08:05 I earlier mentioned that there's an energy mix.

08:09 One of the reasons is the hydro power plants.

08:12 Can you give us, that would actually lead to my last question about renewable energy

08:18 sources.

08:19 I know we're not just utilizing burning of fossil fuels but we're also utilizing hydro

08:26 power plants as well as geothermal and solar energy, especially now that it's so hot.

08:33 So tell us more about your alternative sources of energy sir.

08:37 At this current time, we have a good mixture of energy sources.

08:41 You mentioned earlier that we have conventional power plants that includes coal and liquid

08:50 fuel power facilities.

08:53 Aside from that, we have natural gas fuel facilities.

08:57 This is also contributing a lot, particularly in Luzon.

09:02 About 19 to 21 percent are coming from our natural gas facilities.

09:06 Now even if we are previously using indigenous natural gas, our Malampaya gas, the depletion

09:15 of our Malampaya gas caused us to shift to LNG or liquefied natural gas.

09:22 So that means we are buying from other countries, we built infrastructure facilities to convert

09:30 the liquefied natural gas into natural gas for our generating facilities.

09:36 So those are the conventional.

09:39 But at the same time, we are using renewable energies.

09:43 These are the geothermal, the hydro power, the solar, wind, and even biomass energy resources.

09:51 So our mixture has a lot of impact collectively.

09:54 Our renewable energy resources is already representing about 29 percent in terms of

10:00 capacity and producing about 22 percent in terms of energy generation.

10:10 So those are the contributions of our different sources of electricity in our country.

10:18 Thank you for that information.

10:19 Sir lastly, what is your advice to the people who are struggling to cope up with the power

10:27 instability or power supply?

10:29 Should we conserve energy?

10:31 Yes.

10:32 Thank you very much for that.

10:33 Actually, that is what we are focusing on.

10:36 We are requesting the cooperation of our end users, particularly the electricity consumers

10:43 to be united and help in conserving electricity.

10:48 What I mean by that is we should be using electricity in the right or proper way.

10:56 If we don't need to use one of our appliances, especially the remote controlled, we should

11:02 use it in our power plants, in our sockets because our remote controlled appliances are

11:11 also consuming energy while on idle mode.

11:17 Otherwise, it's a waste of electricity.

11:21 You're not watching TV for example but your television is working.

11:26 It's the same with our air conditioning systems.

11:29 You're not using it but because it needs phantom power, it's still using electricity.

11:35 So it's in the right or proper way.

11:37 There are also the energy conservation tips we're talking about.

11:41 Like our air conditioning system, you can use an air conditioning system but only in

11:50 a comfortable situation or comfortable temperatures.

11:54 Some of us set their air conditioning system at 20 degrees or even below.

12:01 Some even set it at 18 degrees.

12:03 Now they have to wear jackets and then if they suddenly go out of the house, they will

12:11 experience a very hot weather.

12:14 So the ship from very cold conditions to very hot temperatures, we might get sick.

12:20 So our recommended setting is 25 degrees, which is the normal operating conditions

12:26 on land.

12:27 We're wearing polo shirts at work, we don't need to wear jackets and even if we go out

12:34 in the heat, the difference is not that big.

12:38 The same holds true for our household chores like washing dishes, washing.

12:45 If possible, we can do these things during off-peak hours, the hours when there's a

12:52 lot of electricity being used, for example, in the early hours, from 4 to 6, where our

13:00 consumption is still low.

13:02 And we should avoid using energy-intensive appliances during peak hours.

13:09 Like for example, in most parts of the countries, our peak hours in the afternoon is between

13:15 2 o'clock to 4 o'clock in the afternoon.

13:18 So let's not use large appliances during periods at those times.

13:24 And then in the evening, from 8 to 10 at night, if we can avoid using appliances that consume

13:33 a lot of electricity, let's avoid it.

13:37 There's also the habit.

13:41 The simplest thing is drinking water.

13:48 Every time we get water from the ref, we'll get a glass of water and we'll drink it.

13:54 Our refrigerator will be open and closed.

13:57 That causes the hot temperature to enter our refrigerator, causing our refrigeration system

14:02 to exhaust more power and consume more energy.

14:08 So our suggestion is why not use a pitcher, put ice in the pitcher, put it on the table.

14:16 If our pitcher water runs out, we can replace it with ice and add water that doesn't need

14:22 to come from the ref.

14:24 So we can avoid the frequent opening and closing of our refrigeration system.

14:30 If we're going to cook, let's not use our electric appliances during the peak hours,

14:38 2 to 4.

14:39 Most of us eat between 6 to 7.

14:41 So if possible, in the afternoon, let's cook just before 6 o'clock or 7 o'clock, not at

14:48 the peak hours.

14:49 And maybe we have choices between air conditioning system and electric fans.

14:58 So if our situation is cold, we can save on electricity if we shift from air conditioning

15:06 to electric fans.

15:07 We can't do it at the same time.

15:10 Now, what we see there are two principles.

15:13 Number one, we know that it's more expensive if there's no electricity.

15:17 Right?

15:18 Because it has a bigger effect on us if we run out of electricity.

15:22 Number two, if we're using electricity properly, it doesn't just help us avoid the widespread

15:30 blackout.

15:31 It can also help our pockets because we can save on the electric bills we pay.

15:38 So the Department of Energy has a lot of tips regarding energy conservation.

15:44 And so I hope our consumers will help each other to have a stable electricity supply.

15:53 Thank you very much.

15:54 That's very good advice, Asek.

15:56 So if the appliance is not being used, you have to remove it and the air conditioner should

16:01 be only 25 degrees and avoid the peak hours of 2 to 4 p.m.

16:07 That's very good advice, Asek.

16:09 Thank you, Department of Energy DOE Assistant Secretary Mario Maracigan.

16:14 Thank you for your time.

16:16 Thank you very much.

16:17 Long live to you all and God bless.

16:19 God bless.

16:20 God bless.

16:27 God bless.

16:28 God bless.

16:29 God bless.

16:29 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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