The Visayas grid was placed under yellow alert on December 11 after the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) reported a tight power reserve margin for the 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. period. The alert was issued as available capacity reached 2,578 MW against a projected peak demand of 2,535 MW.

NGCP said multiple supply-side constraints contributed to the alert. Ten power plants had been on forced outage between April and December, alongside several units that have been offline since earlier years. Sixteen other plants were running on derated capacities, resulting in a total of 482.41 MW unavailable to the grid. Rising demand in both Visayas and Mindanao, the continued outage of KSPC Unit 2, and reduced output from Agus 6 also added pressure to the system.

By early afternoon, NGCP announced that the yellow alert had been lifted as conditions improved. As of 1:00 p.m., available capacity in the Visayas increased to 2,760 MW while demand dropped to 2,421 MW. NGCP reiterated that a yellow alert is declared when operating margins are insufficient to meet contingency requirements.

Luzon and Mindanao remained under normal condition throughout the day, according to NGCP’s initial advisory.

How can the Philippines strengthen grid reliability as more regions experience fluctuations in supply and demand?

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