Visayas grid on yellow alert again

The Visayas grid was placed under yellow alert for the second straight day on Thursday, with the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) warning of thin reserves from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

In an advisory this morning, the grid operator said available capacity stood at 2,500 megawatts (MW) against a projected peak demand of 2,301 MW.

NGCP said nine power plants have been on forced outage between April and November, while 4 have been offline since 2024, and 2 others since 2023. 

Another 18 generating units are operating at derated capacities, bringing the total unavailable capacity to approximately 660.5 MW. The unavailability of TVI Unit 2, which has a capacity of 169 MW, contributed to the tight reserve situation.

Luzon and Mindanao grids, on the other hand, remain under normal conditions.

A yellow alert is issued when operating margins are insufficient to meet the transmission grid’s contingency requirements.