The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) again placed the Luzon and Visayas grids under yellow and red alert status on Friday, May 15, due to insufficient power supply amid multiple plant outages and derated capacities.
According to NGCP, the Luzon Grid will be under yellow alert from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. and from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m., while a red alert will be in effect from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Meanwhile, the Visayas Grid will be under yellow alert from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. and from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. Red alert status in the Visayas will take effect from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.
NGCP said 16 power plants in the Luzon Grid are currently on forced outage, while 14 others are operating on derated capacities or below their normal output. This resulted in a total of 4,160 megawatts (MW) unavailable to the grid.
“16 plants are on forced outage since May, 1 plant since April, 3 plants since March, 1 plant since February, 3 since January, 3 plants since 2025, 2 plants since 2024, and 1 plant out since 2019; while 14 plants are running on derated capacities, for a total of 4,160MW unavailable to the grid,” NGCP said.
For the Visayas Grid, NGCP reported that 11 power plants are on forced outage while another 11 are running on derated capacities, resulting in 841.3 MW unavailable to the grid.
“11 plants are on forced outage since May 2026, 1 plant since March 2026, 4 plants since 2025, 2 plants since 2024, 2 plants since 2023, 1 plant since 2021, while 11 are running on derated capacities, for a total of 841.3MW unavailable to the grid,” it added.
A red alert status is issued when the power supply is insufficient to meet consumer demand and the transmission grid’s regulating requirement, while a yellow alert is declared when the operating margin is insufficient to meet contingency requirements.
NGCP spokesperson Atty. Cynthia Alabanza said the duration of rotational brownouts would depend on power distributors such as Meralco.
“The same po ang magiging tagal… depende sa magiging tagal ng rotation for each area sa Meralco,” Alabanza said during an interview on DZRH's Dos Por Dos on Friday, May 15.
She noted that both Luzon and Visayas grids have been borrowing power supply from each other, indicating the need for additional baseload capacity.
“Nanghihiram ang Luzon at Visayas… Bago pa magkaroon ng aberya ang Luzon, naka-yellow alert na ang Visayas. Makikita mo talaga na indikasyon ito na kailangan natin magpasok ng sapat na base load,” she said.
Alabanza added that solar power generation helped stabilize supply during daytime hours, but output weakened in the late afternoon.
“Medyo nakatulong ng husto ang solar during the day pero beginning 3:00-4:00 medyo pahina… diyan tayo magsimulang mag-red alert,” she said.
She expressed hope that several power plants currently offline would return to operation before the weekend, when electricity demand is usually lower.
“Hopefully makabalik yung mga planta na inaantay natin by tomorrow, weekend. Pag ‘yan po ay makabalik ang… Weekend wala tayong inaasahang alert kasi mababa ang demand,” Alabanza said.
“So during the weekend makabalik ang planta, hindi na tayo magkaka-alert by Monday. Kung hindi makabalik mayroon na namang posibilidad na alert ulit tayo ng Monday,” she added.
