Plant outages strain Visayas power supply

Power supply in the Visayas was tight on Tuesday after the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) placed the region’s grid under yellow alert from 5 to 8 p.m. due to multiple power plant outages and high electricity demand.

In an advisory, the NGCP said available capacity as of 3:45 p.m. stood at 2,684 megawatts (MW), only slightly above the peak demand of 2,512MW.

NGCP said 11 power plants have been on forced outage since March, four since 2025, two since 2024, two since 2023, and one plant since 2021. 

Another nine plants were operating on derated capacities, leaving a total of 833MW unavailable to the grid.

The yellow alert was triggered by the forced outage of Therma Visayas Inc. (TVI) Units 1 and 2, each with a capacity of 169MW, and Panay Energy Development Corp. (PEDC) Unit 3 with 150MW capacity, alongside high system demand.

In response, the Department of Energy (DOE) directed affected generators and stakeholders to expedite restoration efforts.

“Energy Secretary Sharon S. Garin has directed TVI Units 1 & 2, and PEDC Unit 3, and all concerned stakeholders to immediately undertake the restoration of the affected power plants,” the DOE said in a statement.

The DOE added that its Visayas Field Office would inspect the affected facilities and coordinate with generation companies “to ensure measures to bring the units back online safely and promptly.”

“The DOE assured the public that it is conducting enhanced monitoring and coordinating with generation companies, the system operator, and other concerned stakeholders to support the timely restoration of affected units, maintain grid reliability, and minimize further disruption,” the agency said.

The department also directed NGCP, generation companies, and system operators “to facilitate the timely return of the affected units, stabilize available supply, and avert any prolonged impact on consumers.”

A yellow alert is declared when the operating margin is insufficient to meet the grid’s contingency requirement, though no rotational brownouts are expected unless reserves drop further.

Meanwhile, the Luzon and Mindanao grids were under normal conditions.