MANILA, Philippines – Additional supply from 3 major power plants will help deter another round of rotational blackouts in Luzon next week, a transmission company official told abs-cbnNEWS.com.

According to Jess Sulit of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines, 3 plants with a generating capacity of around 1,820-MW will be onstream by next week.

“With the addition of these plants, the reserves will be enough to stabilize the grid,” Sulit said, explaining that Luzon needs at least 600-MW as reserves to assure enough supply of power.
 
“When reserves are lower than the biggest unit (600-MW), there is a possibility of brownouts the following day,” Sulit explained. Power sags usually end up in rotational blackouts in the Luzon grid.
 
The power plants that are expected to provide electricity next week are the 1,200-MW Ilijan plant in Batangas which is being run by the Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO), the 250-MW Sta Rita plant owned by the First Gen Corporation under the Lopez Group of Companies, and the 370-MW Masinloc coal plant in Zambales owned by Masinloc Power Partners Co., Ltd.
 
With the addition of these plants, the level of reserves will be go beyond the 20% required reserve margin.
 
“Unless these plants deliver their allocations next week, we would not experience blackouts because supply is sufficient,” Sulit said.