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Manila Bulletin devider Business devider Trade & Industry devider Visayas power woes set to ease by end-August as plants return

Visayas power woes set to ease by end-August as plants return

Published Aug 14, 2026 02:27 pm
About four months after the Visayas began experiencing continuous power strains that triggered yellow and red alerts across the region, there may finally be a light at the end of the tunnel: the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) is projecting relief by the end of August.
NGCP spokesperson Cynthia Alabanza said on Friday, Aug. 14, that the grid operator expects the Visayas grid to normalize by Aug. 30, provided that power supply is sufficient to accommodate regional demand.
“The primary driver of [the grid alerts] in Visayas and Mindanao is the power plant shutdowns. The situation in the Visayas is aggravated because the region relies on imports from Luzon and Mindanao,” she said in a media briefing, noting that a recent power plant shutdown in Mindanao caused a domino effect in the neighboring region, resulting in rotating grid alerts.
As of Friday, the Visayas was scheduled for another red alert from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., with yellow alerts active from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. This was caused by the shutdown of Therma Visayas, Inc. (TVI) power plant units 1 and 2, as well as limited power imports from Mindanao.
Meanwhile, Mindanao faced a yellow alert from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. after unit 2 of GNPower Kauswagan Ltd. Co. (GNPK) began maintenance work, while unit 1 underwent an emergency shutdown due to a boiler tube leak.
Yellow alerts signal that supply is insufficient to meet the transmission grid’s contingency requirement, whereas red alerts occur when supply cannot cover both the NGCP's regulating requirement and consumer demand.
“We expect the last two big plants at TVI to return this month—on August 22 and August 30—and we're hoping that they will come back online,” Alabanza said.
The spokesperson also clarified that while the grid operator has numerous pipeline transmission projects in place, these connections still need stable electricity generation from operational power plants to ensure fewer grid alerts in the future.
Beyond monitoring the power supply-demand balance, the NGCP reported a high ancillary service (AS) rate of ₱1.04 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) for the month, while its transmission wheeling rate stood at ₱0.54 per kWh.
“The reason for the increase is the lower billing determinant, or the energy consumption for this month,” said Julius Ryan Datingaling, NGCP head of business and regulatory development.

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