MANILA – The Visayas power grid was placed under yellow alert anew on Thursday afternoon as rising electricity demand driven by warm weather coincided with multiple generation outages, tightening available supply.
The alert, set from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., marks the fourth time this week that the region’s grid has been placed under such status, according to the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP).
A yellow alert indicates that available operating reserves fall below the level required to withstand unexpected power plant or transmission disruptions.
NGCP data showed available capacity at around 2,670 MW, while expected peak demand reached about 2,479 MW, leaving only a narrow buffer for the grid.
The grid operator said the shortfall was largely due to the forced outage of several generating units, including Units 1 and 2 of Therma Visayas Inc. and Unit 3 of Panay Electric Development Corp. (PEDC).
These shutdowns are on top of more than 10 other generating units that have been offline since 2021. Meanwhile, 14 additional plants are operating at derated output, further reducing system reliability and bringing total unavailable capacity to approximately 867 MW.
ia/xf
