NGCP issues yellow, red alerts for Visayas grid; Luzon, Mindanao grids in yellow alert

MANILA, Philippines — The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines hoisted red and yellow alert statuses over Visayas power grids while the Luzon and Mindanao grids were placed under a yellow alert status on Wednesday.

In separate advisories, the NGCP reported that these grid statuses were issued due to forced outages at certain power plants and reduced capacity operations at other plants.

The Luzon grid is scheduled to be under a yellow alert status from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m.

Earlier, the Luzon grid was placed on red alert. It was lifted by the NGCP at 4:05 p.m.

Meanwhile, the red alert status for the Visayas grid will be in effect during the following period:

• 12 noon to 5 p.m.
• 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

The Visayas grid is also scheduled to be placed under a yellow alert status during the following period:

• 10 a.m. to 12 noon
• 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.
• 8 p.m. to 9 p.m.

The yellow alert status for the Mindanao grid will be in effect from 1 a.m. to 4 p.m.

As of writing, the Luzon grid has an available capacity of 14,249 megawatts (MW) against a peak demand of 13,475MW.

On the other hand, the Visayas grid has an available capacity of 2,462 MW against a peak demand of 2,525 MW.

Mindanao grid also has an available capacity of 2,761 MW against a peak demand of 2,614 MW.

A red alert is issued when the power supply is insufficient to meet consumer demand and the transmission grid's operational requirements cannot be fully met.

A yellow alert is raised when the operating margin is too narrow to adequately cover the transmission grid's contingency needs.

Manual load drop

The NGCP also announced that it may implement a manual load dropping (MLD) in some areas “to maintain the integrity of the power system”.

The MLD will be conducted from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.

The areas will be the following, according to the NGCP:

• ABRECO (whole province of Abra)
• CAGELCO 1 (parts of Tuguegarao City, Cagayan)
• ALECO (parts of Albay)
• PENELCO (parts of Bataan)
• BATELEC II (parts of Batangas)

However, the NGCP also said that the MLD might be canceled if “the system condition improves.”