Visayas grid placed on red alert again amid reduced Mindanao supply
Amid the inclement weather, the already fragile Visayas grid has been placed on its fourth red alert since July, according to National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP).
NGCP announced on Monday, Aug. 10, that Visayas would be on red alert until 9 p.m., while a yellow alert would follow from 9 to 10 p.m.
A red alert is issued when the power supply is insufficient to meet consumer demand and the regulating requirement of the grid operator.
Given that Visayas is mostly dependent on regional power importation, the prolonged grid alerts were triggered by reduced supply coming in from Mindanao.
Conversely, Mindanao is on red alert from 5 to 8 p.m. and will eventually be placed on yellow alert until 10 p.m. This was due to increased system demand in the area.
A yellow alert is triggered when the operating margin is insufficient to meet NGCP’s contingency requirement.
As of writing, the grid operator has yet to confirm whether manual load dropping (MLD), which causes rotational brownouts, will be implemented in Visayas or Mindanao.