The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines placed the Visayas grid under a red alert from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 31, 2026, and a yellow alert from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m.
Available generating capacity was projected at 2,059 megawatts against an expected peak demand of 2,305 megawatts, driven by plant outages, reduced generation, and limited imports.
Visayan Electric announced that one-hour rotational brownouts may be implemented in selected areas of greater Metro Cebu during peak demand depending on grid conditions and NGCP instructions.
METRO Cebu residents may experience one-hour rotational brownouts as the Visayas grid struggles with a power shortage caused by plant outages, reduced generation and limited imports from Mindanao.
The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) placed the Visayas grid under red alert from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Monday, Aug. 31, 2026, followed by a yellow alert from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m.
Available capacity was projected at 2,059 megawatts (MW), below the expected peak demand of 2,305 MW, NGCP said.
NGCP posted at least 20 red-alert notices for the Visayas grid in August.
Supply shortage
A red alert is declared when available generating capacity is insufficient to meet demand and the transmission grid’s regulating requirement. A yellow alert means the operating margin is below the required contingency reserve.
NGCP attributed the shortage partly to the unavailability of Units 1 and 2 of Therma Visayas Inc. and Unit 3 of Panay Energy Development Corp.
Nine generating plants went on forced outage in August, while other plants have remained unavailable from earlier periods, some since 2021. Eighteen plants were also operating at reduced capacity.
The outages and reduced generation left about 981.9 MW unavailable to the Visayas grid.
Possible brownouts
Visayan Electric, which distributes power in greater Metro Cebu, said one-hour rotational brownouts may be implemented in selected areas when demand is high, depending on grid conditions and instructions from NGCP.
Its service area covers the cities of Cebu, Mandaue, Talisay and Naga, as well as the municipalities of Minglanilla, Consolacion, Liloan and San Fernando.
The utility advised consumers to monitor its announcements because rotational outages are implemented only when needed to comply with load-reduction instructions.
Residents and businesses were also advised to prepare for possible interruptions during peak-demand hours.
Mindanao supply
The Visayas grid imports electricity from Luzon and Mindanao when local generation is insufficient, but supply from Mindanao has also been constrained by plant outages.
NGCP placed the Mindanao grid under yellow alert from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Monday.
Mindanao had projected available capacity of 2,517 MW against peak demand of 2,376 MW, but its operating margin remained below the required contingency reserve.
NGCP cited the unavailability of major coal plants and recent forced outages, including Therma South Inc. Unit 2 and GNPower Kauswagan Unit 1.
Twenty generating plants in Mindanao went on forced outage in August, while nine others have remained unavailable from earlier periods. Five plants were operating with reduced capacity.
Imports limited
The outages and reduced generation left about 804.1 MW unavailable to the Mindanao grid.
The supply constraints have limited the electricity Mindanao can send to the Visayas, adding pressure on the Visayas grid while several of its own generating plants remain offline.
NGCP said power interruptions may occur during red-alert periods when supply is insufficient to meet demand and the grid’s regulating requirement. / MVG, PNA