The Visayas power grid will be placed under a yellow alert from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Monday, May 18 due to anticipated high electricity demand and the unavailability of several coal-fired power plants, the Department of Energy announced.

The Department of Energy said available capacity in the grid stands at 2,676 megawatts, while peak demand is projected at 2,513 megawatts. The agency noted that the tight supply situation prompted the issuance of the alert level during the critical evening period.

According to the DOE, 13 power plants have been on forced outage since the beginning of May. Of these, one has been offline since 2021, two since 2023, two since 2024, and three have been unavailable since earlier this year, 2025. The remaining units went on forced outage starting this month.

In addition, 11 power plants are operating on derated or limited capacity, further reducing available supply. The DOE said these constraints have resulted in a total capacity loss of 852.9 megawatts in the Visayas grid.

A yellow alert is issued when operating reserves fall below the required contingency level to ensure grid stability, though supply is still sufficient to meet demand.