Visayas, Mindanao face brownout risk Sept. 4 as coal plant outages strain supply

Consumers in the Visayas and Mindanao face potential brownouts on Friday, September 4, due to strained electricity supply caused by outages at large coal plants. The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) issued red alert statuses for both regions. The Visayas grid will be under a red alert from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m., with yellow alerts from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. and 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. Mindanao, which typically supplies extra power to the Visayas, is under a red alert from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. and yellow alerts from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. A red alert means supply cannot meet demand, raising the risk of rotational brownouts, while a yellow alert indicates thinning reserves. The Department of Energy is adding capacity through battery energy storage systems and diesel power barges.