The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) has placed the Visayas grid under a yellow alert from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Thursday, June 11, citing reduced electricity imports from Mindanao and the outage of major coal-fired power plants.
Reasons Behind the Yellow Alert
According to the NGCP, the limited power supply from Mindanao resulted from previous plant trippings caused by a recent earthquake. This situation was aggravated by the continued unavailability of major generating units, including Therma Visayas Inc. (TVI) Unit 1, TVI Unit 2, and Panay Energy Development Corp. (PEDC) Unit 3, as well as high demand forecasts.
In an advisory issued Thursday morning, the NGCP stated that the Visayas grid is expected to have an available capacity of 2,675 megawatts (MW) against a projected peak demand of 2,564 MW during the alert period.
Unavailable Power Plants
A total of 863.1 MW is currently unavailable to the grid as several power plants remain offline or are operating at reduced capacity. The grid operator reported that nine power plants have been on forced outage since June 2026, while eight have been unavailable since May. One plant has remained on forced outage since March, three since 2025, two since 2024, two since 2023, and one since 2021. In addition, 10 power plants are operating on derated capacities.
Key Factors
- Unavailability of major coal-fired power plants: TVI Unit 1, TVI Unit 2, and PEDC Unit 3.
- Reduced power imports from Mindanao due to plant trippings from the recent earthquake.
- Forecast of high electricity demand across the Visayas.
What a Yellow Alert Means
A yellow alert is issued when the operating margin is insufficient to meet the transmission grid’s contingency requirement. This indicates that power reserves are thin, but no widespread outages are expected unless additional generating units become unavailable.
The NGCP continues to monitor the situation and urged stakeholders to manage electricity consumption during peak hours.
