Philippines at the power limit: Visayas grid back on red alert as rotating cuts return

Electricity supply across the central Philippines remains under heavy pressure. On Wednesday, 19 August 2026, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) again placed the Visayas grid under red alert. The highest alert level applied from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. local time, with yellow alerts from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. and again from 7 p.m. until 10 p.m.

NGCP reported 2,481 megawatts of available capacity against a projected peak demand of exactly 2,481 MW. This meant there was virtually no usable reserve. A red alert is declared when available electricity is insufficient to cover both consumer demand and the regulating requirement of the transmission grid. Under these conditions, distribution utilities may temporarily disconnect selected areas in order to keep the wider system stable.

Several problems are occurring simultaneously. The large Therma Visayas 1 and 2 coal-fired units remain unavailable. Electricity imports from Mindanao are also restricted because generation there has been affected by plant outages and high demand. NGCP also expected an additional rise in evening demand. Two smaller Power Barge 101 units, each rated at 5.6 MW, were unavailable as well.

The total missing capacity is substantial. NGCP put unavailable generation at 819.6 MW on Wednesday. Eleven plants had entered forced outage during August alone. Other units have remained unavailable since previous months or even earlier years, while twelve more plants were operating at reduced capacity.

Local reports described another day of brownouts and Manual Load Dropping, known as MLD. Under this procedure, selected service areas are temporarily disconnected so that supply and demand can be balanced without allowing the wider grid to collapse. Utilities on Negros published MLD schedules for 19 August.

This is not an isolated incident. The Visayas grid has repeatedly been placed under critical alert during recent days. The repeated warnings show how little room the system has when several major generators are unavailable and imports from neighbouring grids are limited.

Households and businesses in affected areas should therefore continue to expect possible short-notice interruptions. Keeping phones, rechargeable lights and power banks charged, leaving fridge and freezer doors closed during an outage, and reconnecting sensitive equipment only after the supply has stabilised can reduce the impact. Controlled local cuts can also prevent a regional shortage from developing into a much larger blackout.

Quellen / Sources:
https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/money/economy/999105/visayas-power-grid-red-alert/story/
https://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/758813/another-day-of-brownouts-as-visayas-grid-faces-its-10th-red-alert