Prime Infra gas plants cushion Luzon grid
PrimeCoreGen and First Gen’s gas facilities were dispatched at high capacity as nearly 4,000 megawatts went offline due to forced outages affecting 48 power plants.
Prime Infra and First Gen leaders conducted a joint visit to the Batangas clean energy complex, a strategic facility comprising the gas-fired power plants and offshore LNG terminal, critical to the country’s energy security.
Photograph courtesy of Prime Infra
PrimeCoreGen’s natural gas plants helped prop up the Luzon grid after massive outages across dozens of power plants forced the transmission operator to raise a red alert.
The Department of Energy (DoE) said Thursday PrimeCoreGen and First Gen’s gas facilities were dispatched at high capacity as nearly 4,000 megawatts (MW) went offline due to forced outages affecting 48 power plants.
“PrimeCoreGen / First Gen natural gas plants were actively dispatched during the period. Sta. Rita and Ilijan units exhibited sustained high utilization, EERI units showed stable mid-to-high loading, San Gabriel operated at moderate levels, and Avion units remained at relatively low but consistent output levels,” Energy Undersecretary Rowena Cristina Guevara said.
The outages stripped 3,942.8 MW from the grid, pushing Luzon to yellow and red alerts for several hours on Wednesday.
Gas-fired facilities
PrimeCoreGen currently operates First Gen’s gas-fired facilities, including the 1,000-MW Sta. Rita, 450-MW San Gabriel and 97-MW Avion plants, after Prime Infra acquired a majority stake in the assets in 2025.
Despite the wave of outages, NGCP said the Luzon grid maintained an available capacity of 14,153 MW against peak demand of 13,558 MW, leaving a thin reserve margin of 595 MW.
Largest plants forced offline
Among the largest plants forced offline were Masinloc U3, Ilijan A and Ilijan B, alongside several hydro, geothermal and biomass facilities.
Another 738.8 MW of capacity was unavailable because several plants were operating at derated levels, including units from Sual, Pagbilao, Masinloc, and SCPC.
A yellow alert was in effect from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m., after which the grid was placed under a red alert from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. Another yellow alert was in effect from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.
A red alert is declared when available reserves are exhausted and power supply can no longer adequately meet demand, increasing the risk of rotational brownouts.