Visayas: The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) has extended the yellow alert status for the Visayas grid until 9 p.m. on Friday, due to an increase in power plant outages.
According to Philippines News Agency, the extension from the initial period of 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. to the new timeframe of 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. was prompted by the forced outage of several power plants. These include the 35.2 megawatt (MW) unit 1 of the Palimpinon Geothermal Power Plant in Valencia, Negros Oriental, the 12 MW unit C and the 13 MW unit H of the Panay Diesel Power Plant, and the 8.1 MW Villasiga hydro power plant in Bugasong, Antique.
The NGCP reported that the Visayas grid's current available capacity stands at 2,489 MW, with a peak demand of 2,283 MW. This situation has resulted in a further tightening of the capacity, leading to a decline in the operating margin against the transmission grid's contingency requirements.
Earlier in the day, the yellow alert status was attributed to the forced outage of units 1 and 2 of Therma Visayas Inc. and the Palm Concepcion Power Corporation. In light of the recent developments, the NGCP announced that a total of 15 power plants have experienced forced outages in the Visayas this month alone.
These outages are in addition to the 21 power plants that have been unavailable since 2021 and the 11 power plants currently operating at derated capacities. As of now, the total unavailable capacity in the Visayas grid amounts to 1,031.1 MW, as per the NGCP advisory.
