Visayas grid nears 130 alerts as supply shortfalls trigger brownouts

The Visayas grid is approaching nearly 130 red and yellow alerts this year, as chronic supply deficits forced the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) to raise another red alert on Friday, Sept. 4. About 32 electric cooperatives and distribution utilities face rotational brownouts following a nine-hour red alert triggered by multiple plant trips. This marks the 31st red alert and 94th yellow alert for the Visayas grid since January. Available capacity failed to meet peak demand, which reached 2,506 megawatts (MW) against a supply of just 2,076 MW, with 972.6 MW unavailable due to outages at coal, geothermal, and diesel plants. Power imports from Mindanao remained restricted due to similar grid strains there. Mindanao was also placed under a red alert until 9 p.m. following forced outages, with available capacity at 2,549 MW against a peak demand of 2,592 MW. The Department of Energy aims to cut grid alerts by half within the month once a 200-MW battery storage facility and temporary diesel power barges become operational, and to eliminate alerts entirely by Christmas.