Power supply today is expected to be in surplus based on the outlook of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines.

The projection of the country's grid operator is that  there will  be about 984 megawatt reserve for the Luzon grid alone.

This, however, is lower than the about 1,200 MW usual reserve of the country's largest island group.

Total expected available capacity for Luzon is about 9,402 MW while system peak is seen at 8,418MW.

For the Visayas, the reserve is projected at 90 MW, from available supply of 1,674MW and system peak of 1,583MW.

The Mindanao grid is also expected to have some reserves but it is only at 7MW.

Total available capacity for Mindanao is projected at 1,214MW still higher than the 1,206MW expected demand even as hydroelectric power plants are having problems due to the summer season.

Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla maintains that power situation this year will be a bit problematic due to the lack of supply but this will be addressed partly in 2015 onwards as more power plants are scheduled to open.

He said the immediate solution is the uninterruptible load program.

Under this program, big companies with own power generators should use their own capacity once load becomes very small.

In turn, they will be paid by the distribution utility firms where they are connected for the fuel they used.*PNA

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