Visayas grid on Red, Yellow Alerts again on October 29

MANILA — The Visayas grid will be on Red and Yellow Alerts again on Tuesday, October 29. 

The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) said the schedule for the Red and Yellow Alerts is as follows:

Red Alert
5 p.m. – 6 p.m.

Yellow Alert
3 p.m.- 5 p.m.
6 p.m. – 9 p.m.

The NGCP said available grid capacity is 2,408 MW, but peak demand is expected to reach 2,555 MW.

Ten plants have been out since October, while 2 plants have been out since September. Two plants have been out since August, and one since June. Three plants have been out since May.

The agency said Visayas’ large coal plants, Thermo Visayas 1 and 2 and KEPCO SPC 1, are still out.

Power imports from Mindanao are also limited because the GNPower Kauswagan 4 and Thermo South Inc. 2 power plants are still unavailable. 

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

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

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.