Visayas grid back on red, yellow alerts Oct 22

The Visayas grid will be back on red and yellow alerts on Thursday, October 22, due to insufficiency of power supply.

The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines said the red alert will take effect from 5 p.m. – 6 p.m. while the yellow alert will take effect from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. 

A red alert status is issued when power supply is insufficient to meet consumer demand and the transmission grid’s regulating requirement. 

Meanwhile, a yellow alert is issued when the operating margin is insufficient to meet the transmission grid’s contingency requirement.

The inauguration of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines Mariveles-Hermosa-San Jose 500kV transmission line in Barangay Balsik, Hermosa, Bataan on July 12, 2024. The 8,000 MegaWatt (MW)-line is more than capable of transmitting the 2,086MW power from new plants in the area. Niño Jesus Orbeta, PPA pool/File

Speaking to DZMM, NGCP Spokesperson Cynthia Alabanza said large coal plants PEDC 3 and KSPC 1 in the Visayas and limited power imports from Mindanao due to the planned outages of GNPK 4, TSI 2, and unplanned outage of Pulangi 4 U2 contributed to the alerts. 

“Nawala sa komisyon. Ang Visayas nanghihiram ng power sa Mindanao and Luzon. Limited na ang nahihiram sa Mindanao,” she said. 

The NGCP said available capacity is currently at 2,608MW while peak demand is at 2,581MW.

Five plants are on forced outage on October, 2 plants since September, 3 plants since August, 1 plant since June, 3 plants since May, 3 plants since 2025, 1 plants since 2024, 2 plants since 2023, and 1 plant since 2021, the NGCP said.