From The Manila Bulletin
by Myrna Velasco
December 27, 2015
The main grid of Luzon will remain tight next year – and the biggest challenge for the electricity sector is ensuring that the scheduled May presidential elections will not be marred with rolling brownouts.
In a briefing with reporters, Manila Electric Company (Meralco) President Oscar S. Reyes has reckoned that supply in the grid will still be wobbly by 2016, hence, the utility firm is already cornering supply contracts for its peaking needs. “This is the reason we’re doing this (Meralco’s contracting of peaking supply),” he stressed, while emphasizing that the utility firm’s bigger scale and long-term contribution to power supply security will be its investments in power generation. He indicated though that aside from contracting of capacity needs, the scheduling of maintenance shutdowns of power plants will similarly be crucial – especially so since power generation companies are prevented from doing these during the summer months and the election period.
http://www.mb.com.ph/luzon-power-supply-to-remain-tight-in-2016/