THE National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) placed the Luzon and Visayas power grids under yellow alerts on Tuesday, with power reserves slipping under the grids’ contingency requirements.
In a statement, the NGCP said that the Luzon grid was on yellow alert between 2-4 p.m. and 8-10 p.m.
Peak demand hit 13,902 megawatts (MW) while the available capacity was 14,950 MW, according to the grid operator.
Yellow alerts are issued when the supply available to the grid falls below a designated safety threshold. If the supply-demand balance deteriorates further, a red alert is declared.
The NGCP said four power plants have been on forced outage since 2023, three between January and March 2024, and 13 since April; while one power plant is running at derated capacity.
Overall, a total of 1,369.3 MW was unavailable to the grid.
The Visayas power grid was also placed under yellow alert at 1-4 p.m., 6-7 p.m., and 8-9 p.m. with 20 power plants on forced outage and eight derated.
A total of 571.9 MW was unavailable to the grid.
As of 1:30 p.m., the yellow alert in the Visayas grid was lifted “following the increased capacity shared by Mindanao to Visayas.”
Aboitiz Renewables, Inc. (ARI), the renewable energy arm of Aboitiz Power Corp. (AboitizPower), said in a statement on Monday that its 159-MW-peak (MWp) Laoag Solar Power Plant in Aguilar, Pangasinan recently came online to provide additional capacity.
ARI President James Arnold D. Villaroman said that the Laoag solar project, together with the 94-MWp Cayanga-Bugallon Solar Power facility, will account for about 200 MW of total sellable capacity.
AboitizPower is aiming to build 3,700 MW of new renewable energy capacity — including solar, wind, geothermal, and hydro projects — growing capacity to 4,600 MW by 2030. — Sheldeen Joy Talavera
