Luzon grid under yellow alert on Thursday afternoon

The Luzon power grid was placed under yellow alert on Thursday afternoon due to forced outages and the derated capacity of several plants, the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) said.

In an advisory, the NGCP said the yellow alert status in the country's largest island would be implemented from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Thursday, April 16, 2026.

A yellow alert indicates that the operating margin is insufficient to meet the transmission grid's contingency requirement. 

The Luzon grid is running at an available capacity of 12,223 megawatts (MW) against a peak demand of 11,966 MW.

The grid operator said that "35 plants are on forced outage; while 14 are running on derated capacities, for a total of 5137.2 MW unavailable to the grid."

The power transmission company cited the following factors which contributed to the hoisting of yellow alert: 

• tripping of Excellent Energy Resources Inc. (EERI) 1, 2, 3; Ilijan Block A; and Ilijan Block B
• unavailability of hydro plants (Magat 1, 2, 3, 4)

In a statement, the Department of Energy (DOE) said Energy Secretary Sharon Garin directed LNGPH—the consortium of San Miguel Global Power, AboitizPower, and Meralco PowerGen—and all concerned stakeholders "to immediately undertake the restoration of the affected power plants."

The Energy Department added that it remains under heightened monitoring and is implementing all necessary measures to protect power system reliability and to minimize further disruption, particularly as system conditions continue to evolve.

"The DOE directed the NGCP, generation companies, and system operators to facilitate the timely return of the affected units, stabilize available supply, and avert any prolonged impact on consumers," it said. — VDV, GMA News