MANILA, Philippines 鈥� The continuing red and yellow alerts in Luzon and Visayas grids emphasize the need for an increase in the country鈥檚 energy capacity, especially when considering economic targets, said Senator Sherwin Gatchalian Friday.
Gatchalian made the pronouncement just a day after the Luzon and Visayas grids were again under red alert on Thursday.
A red alert status refers to insufficient power supply to meet consumer demand and the transmission grid鈥檚 regulating requirement.
Meanwhile, on Friday, both Luzon and Visayas grids were currently under yellow alert (or when the operating margin is insufficient to meet the transmission grid鈥檚 contingency requirement).
鈥淭he continuing red and yellow alert status is a critical warning that we urgently need to increase capacity in the country if we are to meet our economic growth targets,鈥� Gatchalian said in a statement.
Because of this, he urged the Department of Energy and the Energy Regulatory Commission to 鈥渞igorously鈥� investigate unplanned and forced outages.
He also told both agencies to penalize power plants for breaching the reliability index.
READ: Senators grill ERC over scarce power plant maintenance checks
Furthermore, Gatchalian also called on the entire power industry to work for the immediate resumption of operations of power plants and to restore the operation of hydroelectric plants.
鈥淐orollary, industry stakeholders must collaborate intensively to increase ancillary services, mitigate the price impact on consumers due to plant outages, and expedite the addition of new capacity,鈥� said Gatchalian.
鈥淗indi na maaaring magpatuloy ang ganitong sitwasyon. Ang kailangan ay agarang aksyon at pagtutulungan upang malampasan ang krisis na ito,鈥� said Gatchalian.
(This situation cannot continue. What is needed is immediate action and cooperation to overcome this crisis.)
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The DOE for its part previously said that it expects an around 18 percent increase in the country鈥檚 energy capacity by the end of 2024.