Visayas grid on Yellow Alert again on October 19

MANILA — The Visayas grid will be on Yellow Alert again on Monday, October 19.

In a Facebook post, the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines said the Visayas grid will be on Yellow Alert — when plants produce less than the grid’s contingency requirement — from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

The NGCP said available grid capacity is at 2,524 MW, but peak demand is expected to reach 2,449 MW.

The NGCP said 8 plants have been out since October, while 5 have been out since September.

Three plants have been out since August, while one plant has been out since June. Four plants have been out since May.

The Energy Regulatory Commission earlier this month said it would investigate generation companies over the power disruptions in Visayas and Mindanao. The Visayas grid has been on Red and Yellow Alerts since May.

In September, the ERC ordered the retroactive implementation of the secondary price cap for August electricity trading in the Visayas and Mindanao spot markets and thereafter. 

An SPC is triggered when the rolling average on the entire Philippine grid breaches a set threshold. Once activated, the SPC will be computed and applied per region, using each grid’s rolling average price.

Spot market prices in the Visayas and Mindanao jumped to record levels due to the shutdown of many power plants in the regions.