Visayas power grid faces recurring red alerts due to outages

The Visayas power grid in the Philippines is facing recurring instability, with the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) issuing multiple red and yellow alerts throughout August.

On August 18, a red alert was scheduled for six hours due to power plant outages and limited electricity imports from Mindanao. During this period, available capacity was reported at 2,410 megawatts (MW) against a peak demand of 2,502 MW. A yellow alert was also issued for specific intervals, signaling that while supply could meet demand, the operating margin was insufficient to cover contingency requirements.

These alerts follow a series of similar incidents, including an eighth red alert on August 17. The instability is attributed to the unavailability of the region’s largest coal-fired plants and constraints on power imports from Mindanao. NGCP reports that 810.3 MW of capacity remains unavailable, significantly exceeding the current supply deficit. The outages are part of a broader trend of forced plant outages and derated capacities affecting the region's power reserves.