Mindanao grid placed under red, yellow alerts

VALENCIA CITY, Bukidnon — The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) placed the Mindanao grid under red and yellow alerts several times on Wednesday due to insufficient power supply and high consumer demand.A red alert was raised over the grid from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. and from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m, indicating that power supply was insufficient to meet consumer demand and the transmission grid’s regulating requirements.Meanwhile, yellow alerts were declared from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m., 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., and 8:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., signaling an operating margin that is insufficient to meet contingency requirements.

READ: Red, yellow alert up in Visayas, Mindanao grids amid power woesBased on the grid status advisory, available capacity stood at 2,526 megawatts (MW) against a peak demand of 2,545 MW.

The extension of the alert declarations was driven by the unavailability of Mindanao’s large coal plants—specifically Units 1 and 2 of the GNPower Kauswagan (GNPK) coal-fired power plant in Lanao del Norte, and Unit 2 of the Therma South, Inc. (TSI) coal-fired power plant located in the boundary of Davao City and Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur—alongside a significant increase in the region’s demand forecast and a decrease in overall available generation.Authorities noted that a total of 855.1 megawatts is currently unavailable to the grid, with multiple plants on forced outage spanning back to previous months, while seven plants are running at derated capacity./coa