The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) is studying possible changes to the country's power grid reserve requirements, noting that recurring yellow and red alerts in various grids are partly due to inadequate capacity that could be addressed through policy adjustments.
ERC chairman and chief executive officer Francis Saturnino Juan, in a video message during the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines energy forum in Makati City on Tuesday, May 26, 2026, underscored the need to revisit reserve requirements to better address demand peaks amid current capacity constraints.
He said flexibility shortages typically occur at night when consumers switch on more lights, a few hours after electricity demand peaks at about 2 p.m., and as solar power generation tapers off between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m.
In recent weeks, the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) placed the Luzon and Visayas grids under yellow and red alert status after operating margins fell below contingency requirements.
Because of this situation, regulators are considering several measures to mitigate the impact of the expected El Niño in the coming months and address future grid reliability issues.
Among the proposals being studied is the revision of current reserve requirements, including a shift from static reserve margins to dynamic weather-indexed targets.
“If a heat advisory tells us the afternoon peak will be 5 percent higher than normal, we should have enough reserves to handle that,” he said.
Other measures under consideration are accelerating regulatory approvals for the procurement of transmission services and fast-ramping capacity; strengthening coordination among regulators and stakeholders to shorten procurement cycles; and expanding ancillary services to include more battery storage, demand response mechanisms, and hybrid renewable energy projects.
“Energy storage, in particular, deserves our urgent attention,” Juan said, noting that additional storage facilities would allow excess power generated by renewable energy plants during the day to be stored and used during the evening.
