What does each power alert level mean?

A total of 35 power plants went on forced outage, or stopped operating, in the Luzon power grid on Thursday afternoon, April 16, according to the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP).

Meanwhile, 14 other power plants were reported to be running at reduced capacity.

Because of this, a Yellow Alert was raised in the Luzon and Visayas grids.

So what do these power alert levels mean?

Based on GMA News’ Digital Strategy & Innovation Lab video released on Sunday, the Philippine Grid Code serves as the basis for NGCP’s status reports.

It has four power alert warning levels: white, yellow, red, and blue.

White Alert

Under tWhite Alert, the normal state of the grid, where electricity supply is sufficient for all consumers and reserves are available in case a power plant suddenly goes offline.

Under this status, no power interruptions or brownouts are expected.

Yellow Alert

A Yellow Alert is declared when the reserve power in the grid becomes low. While supply is still enough to meet current demand, it no longer reaches the required safety margin.

At this level, the possibility of rotational power interruptions increases.

Red Alert

The Red Alert is the highest alert level and is declared when the electricity supply is insufficient to meet demand since the reserves are depleted.

Widespread power interruptions or rotational brownouts are expected.

In this situation, electricity is temporarily cut in certain areas on a scheduled basis to prevent the entire grid from collapsing.

Blue Alert

The Blue Alert level is used as a precaution during expected calamities or severe weather conditions that may make landfall within 24 hours.

It is raised when power plants or transmission lines could be damaged by strong winds or heavy rain.

Meanwhile, the Department of Energy is still investigating the cause of the outages affecting power plants in Luzon and the Visayas.

However, authorities clarified that the overall power supply remains sufficient during the dry season. —RF, GMA News