With the weather getting warmer as the dry season is slowly being felt by Filipinos, the Department of Energy (DOE) reiterated its assurance that there will be no power interruption.

At the Laging Handa Public Briefing, DOE Undersecretary Rowena Guevara said that they already discussed with the National Grid Corporation for the maintenance schedules.

“We already discussed with the NGCP for the scheduling of the maintenance that it should be outside of summer,” she said in Filipino.

“There should be no maintenance shutdown,” she added.

Guevara said that they do not expect any rotational brownouts during the summer season, as the most that the Luzon Grid will experience under yellow alert for most of April and May.

According to Energy Undersecretary Rowena Cristina Guevarra, the DOE said that electricity supply is projected to be enough for the dry season, despite thin reserves.

However, in an event that there will be emergency shutdowns, Guevara said that there are generators ready to augment for the power needed.

“The generators will be tapped,” she said.

In January, the DOE said the Luzon Grid is expected to be placed under yellow alert during the year’s week 11 in March, weeks 13 and 17 in April, all weeks of May, weeks 22 and 23 in June, week 35 in September, week 42 in October, and week 47 in November.

Guevara said that this means that the power supply is just enough and there should be no further increase in the consumption on energy.

She then appealed to the public to save energy.

“Always remember to put out the lights when not needed. Also when using light try LED which has less consumption,” Guevara said as a tip.

Meanwhile, Guevara again said that the DOE is conducting exploratory talks with Japan and other western countries with regards to renewable energy.

She said that recently they held talks with Japan over renewable energy projects.

They also met with the United Kingdom (UK) Department for Business and Trade (DBT) and the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO) of the British Embassy in Manila for an offshore wind (OSW) renewable energy.

Catherine R. Cueto