The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) has placed the Visayas grid under Red Alert for one hour on May 29 due to insufficient power supply and high demand.

According to NGCP, the Red Alert will be in effect from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., while Yellow Alert status has been declared from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. and again from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.

The grid operator said available capacity in the Visayas is projected at 2,562 megawatts (MW), only slightly above the forecast peak demand of 2,542 MW.

A Red Alert is declared when available power supply is insufficient to meet consumer demand and the grid’s regulating reserve requirement, while a Yellow Alert indicates that operating reserves have fallen below contingency reserve requirements.

NGCP reported that 20 power plants remain on forced outage, including 11 that have been offline since May 2026, one since March 2026, three since 2025, two since 2024, two since 2023, and one since 2021.

An additional 15 power plants are operating at reduced capacity, bringing total unavailable capacity to 952.4 MW.

The grid operator identified the unavailability of several large coal-fired power units as a major factor behind the alert declaration, specifically TVI Units 1 and 2, PEDC Unit 3, and KSPC Unit 2.

NGCP also cited high system demand forecasts as contributing to the supply shortfall.

The declaration comes as the Visayas grid continues to grapple with prolonged generation outages that have reduced available supply and tightened operating reserves.

Despite the situation in the Visayas, NGCP said the Luzon and Mindanao grids are expected to operate under normal conditions.

As electricity demand continues to grow, what measures can help reduce the risk of recurring grid alerts caused by generation outages?

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