THE National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) has committed to finalize pending ancillary service contracts, which include adding battery capacity to stabilize the Visayas grid, according to the Department of Energy (DOE).
‘The DOE has directed the NGCP to execute the outstanding ancillary service contracts required by the Visayas grid, and I think they have committed to finish this within the month already,’ said DOE Secretary Sharon Garin.
Ancillary service contracts are agreements between the system operator and the power producer meant to secure backup support, balance electricity supply and demand, and maintain the stable operation of the power grid.
The DOE has been working with power companies to deploy 253 megawatts of battery storage across Cebu, Panay, Leyte, and Negros-some facilities are already prepared to support the Visayas grid immediately.
On Tuesday, the NGCP again placed Visayas and Mindanao on red and yellow alerts.
As of 1 p.m., the red alert is hoisted over Visayas from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. while the yellow alert is up from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. and from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m.
Peak power demand was registered at 2,589 MW exceeding available capacity of 2,258MW.
There are eight power plants are on forced outage this month, 4 plants since August 2026, 1 plant since July, 2 plants since June, 7 plants since May, 3 plants since 2025, 2 plants since 2024, 2 plants since 2023, and 1 plant since 2021, while 14 plants are running on derated capacities, for a total of 790.7MW unavailable to the grid.
The factor/s that contributed to the extension of red and yellow alert declarations in the Visayas grid:
Increase in forecasted system demand by around 100MW.
No power import from Mindanao grid.
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.
In Mindanao, the red alert took effect from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. and from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. The yellow alert is implemented from 12 noon to 1 p.m., 4 p.m. to 5 p.m., and 9 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Mindanao’s available capacity stood at 2,673MW as against a peak demand of 2,639MW.
According to the NGCP, there are 10 plants are on forced outage this month, 7 plants since August, 4 plants since July, 1 plant since June, 2 plants since January, 1 plant since 2025, and 1 plant since 2024, while 5 plants are running on derated capacities, for a total of 763.6MW unavailable to the grid.
The NGCP cited the tripping of Minergy Coal U2 (50MW) and increase in forecasted system demand by around 100MW as factors that contributed to the red and yellow alerts.