Visayas grid slips back into red alert
MANILA, Philippines – Just days after lifting the yellow alert, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) placed the Visayas grid under red alert again on Thursday as projected power supply fell short of expected demand.
In an advisory, the grid operator said the red alert will take effect from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m, while the grid will be on yellow alert from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. and from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.
READ: Visayas grid exits yellow alert on DOE reforms
Available capacity was pegged at 2,561 MW, below the projected peak demand of 2,568 MW.
NGCP attributed the alerts to the continued outages of large coal power plants TV1 and TV2, the recent shutdown of the 135-MW PCPC plant, and an expected spike in power demand.
READ: Visayas power woes highlight need for gridwide upgrade
NGCP said 10 power plants have gone on forced outage this month. Four have remained offline since June, seven since May, one since March, while nine others have been unavailable since 2021.
Another 14 power plant are running at reduced capacity, leaving 959.3-MW unavailable to the grid.
NGCP declares a red alert when available power supply cannot meet demand and regulating requirements. It raises a yellow alert when operating reserves fall below contingency requirements. /pai INQ
