Visayas Grid Under Red, Yellow Alerts Due to Power Shortages

MANILA, Philippines — The Visayas grid was placed under red and yellow alerts yesterday due to the sudden shutdown of major coal-fired plants and limited power imports from Mindanao. The red alert was hoisted from 5 to 9 p.m., while the yellow from 4 to 5 p.m. and from 9 to 10 p.m., according to the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP). A red alert status is raised when power supply is insufficient to meet the demand of the consumers. Peak demand in the Visayas yesterday was 2,346 megawatts while available capacity was only 2,109 MW. The insufficient power supply was caused by the shutdown of Units 1 and 2 of the Therma Visayas Inc. as well as the Unit 3 of the Panay Energy Development Corp. Thirty-three power plants have been on a forced outage including 11 this month, while 14 others have been operating at a reduced capacity. The Visayas grid cannot import power from Mindanao because of tight supply. The NGCP placed the Mindanao grid under yellow alert from 5 to 7 p.m. as available capacity was 2,623 MW and peak demand was 2,456 MW. A total of 206 MW was lost from the grid due to the unavailability of Units 2 and 3 of the GNPower Kauswagan. Twenty-nine plants have been on a forced outage while others are operating at a derated capacity.