POWER supply constraints triggered red and yellow alerts across the Visayas and Mindanao grids on Tuesday, August 11, following a wave of forced plant outages and restricted power imports, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) reported.
The Visayas grid was elevated to red alert status from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m., a level indicating that power supply is insufficient to meet consumer demand and regulating requirements, exposing the region to potential rotating blackouts.
Yellow alerts—signaling insufficient operating reserves—were also enforced from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.
According to NGCP, Visayas available capacity dropped to 2,123 megawatts (MW) against a projected peak demand of 2,418 MW.
Over 960 MW was stripped from the grid due to 29 offline power plants and 16 facilities operating at derated capacities.
Major contributors to the deficit include the continued unavailability of large coal-fired plants—Therma Visayas Inc. (TVI) Units 1 and 2, and Cebu Energy Development Corp. (CEDC) Unit 1—alongside recent forced outages at CPPC Unit 5, BDPP Unit 1, and Power Barges 101 and 104.
Compounding the problem, power transfers from Mindanao were severely restricted. The Mindanao grid faced its own yellow alert from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. with 777.7 MW unavailable.
Mindanao’s capacity was squeezed by emergency shutdowns at GNPower Kauswagan (GNPK) Unit 1 due to a boiler tube leak, ongoing maintenance at GNPK Unit 2, extended outages at SEC Unit 2, and a 40 MW capacity reduction at the Pulangi hydroelectric plant.
Peak demand in Mindanao was expected to reach 2,616 MW against an available capacity of 2,696 MW.
Addressing the supply strain, Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Sharon Garin stated that the government is rolling out immediate, medium, and long-term solutions, including deploying power barges and battery energy storage systems over the next two years.
Garin also urged NGCP to finalize ancillary service contracts to integrate 250 MW of battery capacity to stabilize the Visayas grid.
