Visayas, Mindanao Grids Under Red Alert Amid Power Supply Woes

The Visayas and Mindanao power grids were placed under red alert status on Friday, September 4, 2026, amid limited power supply, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) said. In an 8 a.m. advisory, the Visayas grid will be under red alert from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m., while a yellow alert will be in effect from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. and from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. The Visayas grid had an available capacity of 2,233 megawatts (MW) against a peak demand of 2,504 MW. NGCP said eight power plants were on forced outage in September, while more power plants had been unavailable since the past months and years. Seventeen other plants were operating at derated capacities, resulting in a total of 815.8 MW unavailable to the grid. The unavailability of the Visayas' large coal plants TVI 1 and PEDC 3, as well as limited or unavailable power imports from Mindanao, contributed to the alert declarations. Meanwhile, the Mindanao grid will be under red alert from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m., while yellow alert will be in effect from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. Mindanao had an available capacity of 2,549 MW against a peak demand of 2,592 MW. Eight power plants were on forced outage in September, while more had been unavailable since the months and years. Six other plants were operating at derated capacities, leaving a total of 784.5 MW unavailable to the grid. The unavailability of Mindanao's large coal plants GNPK 1 and 2 and TSI 2 contributed to the alert declarations, NGCP said. “A red alert status is issued when power supply is insufficient to meet consumer demand and the transmission grid’s regulating requirement,” the NGCP said. “A yellow alert is issued when the operating margin is insufficient to meet the transmission grid’s contingency requirement,” it added. — RSJ, GMA News