To lessen the impact of possible power shortages in the Visayas Grid on Visayan Electric customers, the electric utility is calling for more of its commercial and industrial customers to enroll in the Interruptible Load Program (ILP).
We need to increase our ILP capacity now that there are frequent yellow and red alerts from the NGCP. Temperatures are very high and as much as possible, we want to avoid having to implement manual load dropping or at least lessen the duration and frequency so that our customers will not be inconvenienced.
Engr. Raul C. Lucero
Visayan Electric President and COO
ILP is a voluntary, demand-side management program where business customers of a distribution utility with loads of at least 1 megawatts, sign an agreement that they will run their own generator sets and collectively reduce electricity drawn from the grid when power interruptions are imminent, to ration limited power supply.
The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) has been issuing yellow and red alerts in the Visayas Grid due to supply concerns following the forced outage, derated capacities of several power plants in the grid, as well as the increase in demand because of the extreme heat that the country is experiencing. Yellow alerts are issued when the power supply operating margin is insufficient to meet the NGCP’s contingency requirement for the grid. Red alerts, meanwhile, are issued when the power supply is insufficient to meet consumer demand.
Visayan Electric calls on more biz customers to enroll in ILP
In May 2023, four major industry operators in the Visayan Electric franchise area signed up for an ILP partnership, namely, SM Prime Holdings, Radisson Blu Hotel Cebu, J. King and Sons Company Incorporated (Club Ultima), and Lucky Group Management & Dev. Corp (Gaisano Country Mall).
The strategic partnership boosted the ILP capacity of Visayan Electric to 23 megawatts. This significant load will lessen the possibility of implementing rotational brownouts among Visayan Electric customers during times when power interruptions are inevitable to ration limited power supply in the grid.
However, with the increasing electricity demand due to high temperatures, the electric utility sees the need to increase its ILP capacity to further ensure lesser duration and frequency of rotating brownouts should there be a power shortage.
“We need to increase our ILP capacity now that there are frequent yellow and red alerts from the NGCP. Temperatures are very high and as much as possible, we want to avoid having to implement manual load dropping or at least lessen the duration and frequency so that our customers will not be inconvenienced,” said Visayan Electric President and COO, Engr. Raul C. Lucero.
Visayan Electric last implemented the ILP in 2015 when there was a power supply concern after a generating plant’s emergency shutdown. There were a total of 28 business customers who enrolled with the ILP at that time, with a total of 68 megawatts power requirement.
The ILP, Lucero said, has already proven to be a big help in addressing supply concerns affecting the Visayan Electric franchise in the past. Previous ILP activations averted brownouts from affecting hundreds of thousands of Cebu households.
Business customers who are interested to enroll may get in touch with their respective Key Account Managers or get in touch with Visayan Electric through i[email protected].
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