THE Department of Energy (DOE) said Monday that the yellow alert hoisted over the Visayas and Mindanao power grid will persist next week, with possible red alerts during the evening.
‘So, for next week, what we are seeing is that we will remain to have yellow alerts in the afternoon for both Visayas and Mindanao, but we might have as well red alerts during the evening time. So, it just depends on how long they are extended.
‘Normally, a red alert takes effect at 5p.m., but it may start earlier depending on power demand,’ said DOE undersecretary Mario Marasigan.
A red alert status is issued when power supply is insufficient to meet consumer demand and the transmission grid’s regulating requirement.
A yellow alert is issued when the operating margin is insufficient to meet the transmission grid’s contingency requirement.
As of press time, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) placed the Visayas grid on red alert from 5pm. to 8pm. and yellow alert from 4pm to 5pm. and from 8pm to 9pm.
The grid’s available capacity stood at 2,334 megawatts (MW) while peak demand was at 2,413MW.
Six power plants are on forced outage this month, one plant since July, three plants since June, seven plants since May, one plant since March, three plants since 2025, two plants since 2024, two plants since 2023, and one plant since 2021, while 14 plants are running on derated capacities, for a total of 810.3MW unavailable to the grid.
‘The Visayas grid was placed under yellow and red alerts because of major generation outages and limited power transfers from neighboring grids. Several major coal-fired generating units remain unavailable.
Today, capacity support for Visayas from the Luzon and Mindanao grids i also limited-as Mindanao’s demand is high,’ said Garin. ‘Our teams are working with system operators and generators to restore available capacity, manage the tight supply situation, and keep electricity flowing across the Visayas,’ added Garin.