NGCP: Visayas grid under extended yellow alert on Monday, June 29

The Visayas grid will be placed under yellow alert for a longer period than initially announced on Monday afternoon due to additional forced outages of power plants in the region, coupled with higher projected demand.

The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) said the yellow alert status — which indicates that the operating margin is insufficient to meet the transmission grid’s contingency requirement — will be in effect from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on June 29.

The yellow alert was originally scheduled from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., but NGCP extended it after more plants went on forced outage, including several units of the Panay Diesel Power Plant and the Bohol Diesel Power Plant.

As of 1 p.m., the Visayas grid had an available capacity of 2,552 megawatts (MW) against a peak demand of 2,329 MW, with 982 MW unavailable to the grid.

NGCP said 14 plants have been on forced outage this month, eight since May 2026, one since March 2026, three since 2025, two since 2024, two since 2023, and one since 2021.

Meanwhile, 16 plants are currently operating below their full capacity.

Last month, Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Sharon Garin ordered the immediate restoration of three major power plants in the region and directed its Visayas Field Office to inspect and coordinate with the concerned generation companies to ensure they are brought back online “safely and promptly.”

The Department of Energy (DOE) said that while there is no direct correlation between the declaration of yellow and red alerts on electricity rates, the thin power supply forced the use of more expensive diesel power plants, which could slightly raise power costs.— MCG, GMA News