Energy Assistant Secretary Mario Marasigan (PNA photo by Joan Bondoc)
MANILA – The Department of Energy (DOE) has begun preparations to mitigate the risks associated with the looming La Niña phenomenon and ensure the country's energy security.
At a news forum in Quezon City Saturday, DOE Assistant Secretary Mario Marasigan said among the contingency plans is to reduce major damage to electric power infrastructure, particularly transmission lines, due to the looming destructive weather phenomenon.
“La Niña naman po ang pinaghahandaan na namin ngayon, kasi pagpasok naman po ng La Niña kapag humalo sa tag-ulan, sobra naman po ang tubig (We are now preparing for La Niña, because once it occurs and combines with the rainy season, then there would be an excess of water),” Marasigan said.
“Iyong ating transmission line, iyong mga distribution utilities, ito po iyong ating pinaghahandaan na sana hindi naman maapektuhan (We are preparing the transmission lines and distribution utilities so they will not be affected),” he added.
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. last month assured that the administration is doing everything it can to prepare for La Niña.
As of now, Marasigan said power supply is sufficient and there are no alert levels currently imposed.
The supply of electricity has stabilized amid challenges brought by El Niño and climate change, he added.
“Since Thursday, wala po tayong alert (we don't have any alerts [on the power grid]),” he said.
Yellow alert indicates sufficient power supply while red alert means outages in power plants resulting in insufficient electricity supply that could not meet consumer demand.
According to Marasigan, the red alert imposed recently was attributed to the effects of climate change and El Niño to power plants, particularly the hydro-powered ones.
He said affected power plants could not fully resume as operators extended preventive maintenance.
“In fact, iyong projection natin na 13,900 nalagpasan po noong April 24, dito sa Luzon. Umabot po tayo ng 14,017 megawatts, so lagpas po tayo. Eh na-tiyempo iyon pong mga planta na naapektuhan noong El Niño, particularly iyong mga hydropower facilities natin dahil kulang ang ulan bumaba iyong level ng tubig. Pinepreserba po natin iyong tubig para sa irigasyon at saka domestic use (In fact, we exceeded the projection of 13,900 [megawatts] last April 24 here in Luzon. We reached 14,017 megawatts, so this is beyond [the projection]. It was coincidental that the plants affected by El Niño, particularly the hydropower facilities, had lower water levels because we were preserving the water for irrigation and domestic use),” he said.
Marasigan cited DOE’s intensified efforts in monitoring the power while establishing dynamic communications with power plant operators and maximizing social platforms to acquire information.
He said the DOE does not see any manual or dropping of red alert in the coming days. (PNA)
