Meralco issues tentative schedules of Metro Manila blackouts

Meralco, Metro Manila’s lone electric company, has been prompted to schedule blackouts after two major power plants were shuttered due to boiler tube leaks. The company was also forced to place its system’s condition on red alert after Sual Unit 1 (647 megawatts) and Masinloc Unit 1 (315 mW) broke down, restricting the dispatch of hydropower generating plants due to limited water elevation. The affected hydro plants include Casecnan 1 & 2 (160 MW), San Roque (390 MW), Angat (200 MW) and Magat (360 MW). As of posting time, Kalayaan 3 (170MW), Sta. Rita 30 (254 MW), Sta. Rita 10 (254 MW) and Ilijan Plant (1200 MW) are still non-operational. Meralco's latest update on its official website said Kalayaan 3 is currently under maintenance while both Sta. Rita 30 and Sta. Rita 10 are undergoing preventive maintenance. Sta. Rita 30, however, is expected to cut in today, March 1, at 2 p.m. Ilijan Plant’s shutdown was due to the outage of the Malampaya gas pipeline on Feb. 10. Malampaya is scheduled for maintenance until March 10. Expected power deficiency at 11 a.m. today was pegged at 235 MW, 358 MW at 2 p.m. and 219 MW at 7 p.m. The tentative schedules of the rotating brownouts for the rest of today can be downloaded here. According to the Meralco Customer Assistance Center, there is no schedule yet for the following days. - Carmela Lapeña, RJAB Jr., GMANews.TV