Visayas grid under red alert as plant outages persist
MANILA, Philippines — The Visayas grid will be placed under red alert for two hours Thursday, July 9, as several power plants remain unavailable, leaving supply slightly below expected peak demand.
The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines said the red alert will be in effect from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. A yellow alert will also be in effect from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. and again from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.
NGCP said the grid's available capacity stood at 2,561 megawatts, below the projected peak demand of 2,568 MW.
A red alert is declared when power supply is insufficient to meet consumer demand and the grid's reserve requirement. A yellow alert means the operating margin is too thin to meet the grid's contingency requirement.
NGCP traced the latest alert to the unavailability of several power plants, including generating units 1 and 2 of Therma Visayas Inc. and Palm Concepcion Power Corp.
The grid operator said 10 power plants are unavailable this month alone. Four others have been out since June, seven since May, one since March, three since 2025, three since 2024, two since 2023 and one since 2021.
Fourteen power plants are also operating at derated capacities, bringing the total unavailable capacity in the Visayas grid to 959.3 MW, NGCP said.
Recurring grid strain
The latest red alert extends a months-long pattern of tight supply in the Visayas grid, where plant outages and derated capacity have repeatedly narrowed the region's power cushion.
The region's supply problems had already drawn scrutiny in May, when power alerts in Luzon and Visayas prompted energy regulators and lawmakers to seek a fuller accounting of the outages and grid disruptions.
A Senate resolution filed in June sought an inquiry into the frequent red and yellow alerts and recent power interruptions in Luzon and Visayas. The filing cited NGCP data showing that the Visayas grid had been under red alert for about 22 interval hours and yellow alert for 93 interval hours.
NGCP has said it can transmit power only when supply is available.
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