DOE: Power reserves may run low in May, June

The Department of Energy (DOE) reported that power reserves may run low in the first two weeks of May and June.

“Ang binabantayan natin ay iyong first week of May at saka first week of June. First week of May, nagki-carry over sa second week, at saka first week ng June, nagki-carry over sa second week of June, iyon iyong medyo numinipis iyong reserba,” DOE Undersecretary Felix William Fuentebella said during the Saturday News Forum in Quezon City.

(We are monitoring the first week of May and the first week of June. From the first week of May, it carries over to the second week, and then from the first week of June to the second week of June, that’s when we have a thin reserve.)

“Kaya lang, mayroong dapat sobrang four percent sa regulating reserve requirement, iyon po iyong nagbabalanse ng frequency. And then, ina-add natin doon iyong biggest plant capacity, para sa Luzon na 668 megawatts,” he added.

(But there should be an excess of 4% of the regulating reserve requirement; it balances the frequency. And then we add the biggest plant capacity for Luzon, which is 668 megawatts.)

“So tinitingnan natin ang possibility na magkaroon ng kulang na reserba sa regulating reserve at saka dito sa contingency reserve sa first week and second week ng May, first week and second week ng June.”

(So we are looking at the possibility that there will be a deficiency in the regulating reserve and contingency reserve in the first and second weeks of May and the first and second weeks of June.)

The DOE encouraged the public to conserve energy.

“Do not be wasteful in the use of energy,” Fuentebella said.

Earlier this week, the weather bureau PAGASA said a transition to El Niño is “favored” between May and July, “with chances of El Niño increasing towards the first quarter of 2024.”

The El Niño phenomenon is characterized by the abnormal warming of sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean and below-normal rainfall. (GMA Integrated News)