After 5 days of stability, Visayas power grid faces yellow alert anew

CEBU CITY, Philippines — After five days of stability, the Visayas power grid on Monday, July 6, was placed under a yellow alert again as higher-than-expected demand narrowed the region’s reserve power margin, grid operators said.

The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) issued the alert for 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., citing available capacity of 2,653 megawatts against a peak demand forecast of 2,425 megawatts.

Grid operators issue a yellow alert when the grid’s operating margin is not enough to cover the transmission system’s contingency requirement. That means the sudden loss of one major power plant could strain supply. Rotating blackouts are not expected under a yellow alert.

Demand for electricity up

READ MORE: Another yellow alert hounds Visayas grid

NGCP explained that two of the Visayas’ largest coal-fired power plants, TVI 1 and 2, remained unavailable. A rise in the electricity demand forecast added to the challenge.

According to the advisory, 882.7 megawatts of capacity remained unavailable to the Visayas power grid as of the 6 p.m. update.

Four power plants went on forced outage this month, NGCP said.

Five others have been down since June, seven since May, one since March, three since 2025, three since 2024, and two since 2023. One plant has remained offline since 2021. Separately, 18 plants were operating at derated, or reduced, capacities.

More generating capacity

Grid operators typically issue yellow alerts as a precautionary measure. This signals to power plant operators and consumers that supply conditions are tight.

The classification sits below a red alert, which officials declare when supply is projected to fall short of demand. Rotating outages become likely.

Monday’s fresh yellow alert also meant that the Visayas power grid needed further generating capacity and additional power supply as demand continued to surge.

Grid operators had hoped that the Visayas power situation would improve following the reactivation of Panay Energy Development Corp.’s Unit 3. This has the capacity to inject 150 MW of power into the system grid.

READ MORE: EXPLAINER: Color-coded grid alert statuses and what they mean

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