VISAYAS grid remains on red alert for the fourth consecutive day on Thursday while the Mindanao grid is on yellow alert since high demand for both grids are met with limited capacities due to unavailability of several power plants.
According to the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGPC), the red alert for the Visayas grid is from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., while the yellow alert is from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. and from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m.
This, as available capacity is around 2,283 megawatts (MW), providing limited operating margin against contingency requirement since peak demand is projected to reach 2,360MW, thus, the yellow alert.
The available capacity is also not enough to meet consumer demand and the grid’s regulating requirement, resulting to the issuance of the red alert.
Power supply is limited because of the continued forced outage of Units 1 and 2 of the Therma Visayas Inc. and the Unit 1 of the Cebu Energy Development Corporation.
Also, power imported from Mindanao is short due to the maintenance outage of the Unit 2 of the coal-fired GNPower Kauswagan in Lanao del Norte, and the emergency shutdown of the GNPK 1 due to boiler tube leak.
NGCP said six power plants are on forced outage just this August alone, and more than 20 others have been unavailable as far back as 2021.
Also, 13 power plants are operating on derated capacities, limiting the grid’s supply by around 903.2MW.
For the Mindanao grid, the yellow alert is from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., 12 noon to 4 p.m., and 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Available capacity is around 2,785MW while peak demand is projected to hit 2,604MW.
NGCP said 16 power plants are on forced outage for this month alone. These are on top of the 12 others not operating since last year, and the eight others that are on derated capacities, bringing the total loss to around 713.7MW. (PNA)
