The Visayas grid will once again be placed on yellow alert from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Wednesday, May 20, due to high projected electricity demand and the shutdown of several major coal-fired power plants, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) said.

The latest warning marks the eighth yellow alert raised over the Visayas grid in the past nine days.

Based on NGCP’s latest assessment, the Visayas grid recorded an available capacity of 2,691 megawatts (MW) against a peak demand forecast of 2,438 MW.

The Department of Energy (DOE) said it is coordinating with the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP), NGCP, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), generation companies, and other industry stakeholders to stabilize the grid and protect consumers from possible power disruptions.

"The DOE continues to closely monitor the grid and provide the public with information as the situation develops," it added.

Data from NGCP showed that 11 power plants have been on forced outage since May 2026, while one plant has been offline since March 2026. Three plants have remained unavailable since 2025, two since 2024, two since 2023, and one plant since 2021. In addition, 13 power plants are operating on derated capacities, leaving 852.1 MW unavailable to the grid.

Among the major factors cited for the yellow alert declaration were the unavailability of large coal plants including TVI 1, TVI 2, and PEDC 3, as well as high forecasted system demand.

A yellow alert is issued when the operating margin is insufficient to meet the transmission grid’s contingency requirement, indicating limited power reserves but not necessarily leading to automatic power interruptions.