Yellow alert raised over Visayas grid
A YELLOW ALERT was declared over the Visayas grid on Tuesday amid higher forecasted demand and power plants that were on forced outages, the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) said.
In an advisory, the NGCP said that the Visayas grid was placed on yellow alert from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Peak demand hit 2,475 megawatts (MW) against the available capacity of 2,528 MW.
A total of 744 MW was unavailable to the grid as 17 power plants have been on forced outage and six are running on derated capacities.
Contributing to the declaration of yellow alert was the decrease in power imported from Mindanao due to the outage of Pulangi 4 Unit 3.
This marks the third time that the Visayas grid has been placed under a yellow alert this year following the alert notices issued on Monday evening and on Aug. 1.
A yellow alert is issued when the operating margin is insufficient to meet the transmission grid’s contingency requirement.
The Luzon and Mindanao grids are under normal conditions.
In 2024, the Philippines was placed under 16 red alerts and 62 yellow alerts which led to some brownouts and power interruptions.
In a statement, the Department of Energy ordered generation companies in Visayas and Mindanao to immediately restore power plants currently on forced outage to help stabilize the power supply across both grids.
“We expect full cooperation and accountability — delays are no longer acceptable at this point,” said Energy Secretary Sharon S. Garin.
The NGCP recently conducted its annual blackout drills to improve its grid response capabilities in case of large-scale power outages or system disturbances.
The activity involved discussions on black start services, actual restoration experiences, blackout restoration guidelines and procedures, breakout sessions, and workshops focusing on area-specific blackout restoration highways.
“Through these drills, NGCP can evaluate communication protocols, assess response times, and strengthen coordination efforts. We are able to identify weaknesses, if any, and address them proactively, in coordination with our partner stakeholders,” the company said. — Sheldeen Joy Talavera
