Visayas grid under yellow alert on May 16, 2026

Thin supply is once again threatening the power situation in the Visayas grid, increasing chances of rotating brownouts on Saturday afternoon.

The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) raised a yellow alert for the island group from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Earlier, the NGCP said that the Visayas grid, the Luzon, and Mindanao grids were in "normal conditions."

The yellow alert was issued for the Visayas grid because the expected demand increased by 120 megawatts (MW), and there were forced outages at TVI Unit 1 (169 MW), TVI Unit 2 (169 MW), and PEDC Unit 3 (150 MW).

The Visayas grid is currently operating at 2,658 MW available capacity against a peak demand of 2,492 MW, leaving a thin reserve margin of 166 MW.

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

While supply is still enough to meet current demand, it no longer reaches the required safety margin. The likelihood of rotational power interruptions rises at this level.

“As of 3 p.m., the Luzon and Mindanao grids are normal and with sufficient supply,” the NGCP said.

“Barring any unexpected increase in demand or additional unplanned outages of power facilities, the power situation for this weekend is expected to remain stable,” it added. —VBL, GMA News