MANILA — The Visayas grid will be on Red and Yellow Alerts on Tuesday, September 15.
The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) said the schedule is as follows:
Red Alert
5 p.m. - 7 p.m.
Yellow Alert
3 p.m. - 5 p.m.
7 p.m. - 8 p.m.
The NGCP said 12 plants have been out since September, while 3 plants have been out since August. One plant has been out since July, 2 plants have been out since June, while 7 plants have been out since May.
Among the power plants that are out are the large coal power plants Therma Visayas Inc. 1 and 2 and Panay Energy Development Corporation 3.
This brings available grid capacity to 2,352 MW. Peak demand is expected to reach 2,492 MW.
A red alert status means power outages can be expected as power supply is insufficient to meet consumer demand and the transmission grid’s regulatory requirements. A yellow alert, meanwhile, means power outages are likely as plants are producing less than the grid's contingency requirement.
The Energy Regulatory Commission has ordered the retroactive implementation of the secondary price cap in the Visayas and Mindanao spot market for August electricity trading and thereafter. This came after the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP) announced that spot market prices in the Visayas and Mindanao jumped to record levels due to the shutdown of many power plants in the regions.