Visayas grid back on red alert

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August 18, 2026 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — The Visayas grid was placed under red alert again yesterday, with the Department of Energy (DOE) expecting tight power supply conditions to persist into next week.

The alert was raised from 5 to 8 p.m. due to the unavailability of several large coal-fired facilities and limited power imports from Mindanao, according to the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines.

The NGCP also issued a yellow alert in the Visayas from 4 to 5 p.m. and again from 8 to 9 p.m.

At least 26 power plants were on forced outage while 14 others were running at reduced output, leaving more than 800 megawatts of generating capacity unavailable.

At a press briefing yesterday, Energy Undersecretary Mario Marasigan said the DOE expects grid alerts to continue into next week, not only in the Visayas but also in Mindanao.

In particular, yellow alerts could be raised during the afternoon, while red alerts could be hoisted at night.

“It will just depend on how it is extended. It may start earlier depending on the demand,” Marasigan said.

A yellow alert is issued when the operating margin is insufficient to meet the grid’s contingency requirement, while a red alert is raised when the power supply is no longer enough to meet consumers’ demand.

The DOE targets to release next week its power master plans for Mindoro and Palawan, while the plan for Visayas needs more time to be crafted due to the complexities of the island’s power woes.

“We have already assessed the distribution lines, where to put new transformers, what additional power plants are needed to be built and which non-performing generation companies should already be canceled,” Energy Secretary Sharon Garin said.