MANILA (UPDATE 3) - Luzon's power grid has been put on Red Alert, while the Visayas was on yellow alert again on Tuesday, the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines said.

A Red Alert means load dropping or rotating brownouts can be expected as there is not enough power to meet consumer demand and maintain the transmission grid's regulating requirement.

The NGCP said the following alerts will be in effect over Luzon during the following times:

Red Alert

3 p.m. - 4 p.m. 

6 p.m. - 10  p.m.

Yellow Alert

4 p.m.  - 6 p.m. 

10 p.m.  - 12 MN

Several areas have already experienced rotating brownouts, according to the NGCP, as 18 power plants in Luzon are on forced outage, while 2 are running on lower or derated capacities.

It added that the available capacity stands at 12,832 megawatts while peak demand is estimated to be 12,671MW.

The Visayas grid meanwhile will be on yellow alert from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Twenty power plants in the Visayas are on forced outage while 9 are running on lower or derated capacities, the NGCP said.

The available capacity is 2,742MW while peak demand is seen to be 2,571MW.

"A yellow alert is issued when the operating margin is insufficient to meet the transmission grid’s contingency requirement," the NGCP said.

COMPANIES URGED TO DE-LOAD FROM GRID

Meanwhile, Meralco and the Department of Energy have urged more companies to join the government’s Interruptible Load Program (ILP).

Firms that join the ILP voluntarily stop taking power from the grid, and use their own generators when there is not enough power in the grid.

Meralco and the DOE said ILP participants were critical in avoiding rotating brownouts in the Meralco franchise area even after the Luzon Grid was placed under Red Alert for 3 days last week.

“We call for your support and cooperation for the country’s objective of having continuous power supply by participating in the ILP and being part of the solution to the power supply challenges,” said Irma C. Exconde, DOE Director of the Electric Power Industry Management Bureau.

Meralco said the ILP successfully spared around 1.9 million households from power interruptions.

More than 300MW of demand last week was offloaded from Meralco's service area due to the ILP.

The topnotcher among ILP participants was SM malls which accounted for more than 100MW.

SM said it is ready to participate again just in case the Luzon and Visayas grid plunge into red alert again soon.

SM's solar panels which also produce additional electricity supply also helped, according to SM.

“Bayanihan continues to be our battle cry this year as we all try to do our part to mitigate the impact of El Niño on the power sector,” said Meralco Vice President and Head of Utility Economics Lawrence S. Fernandez.

As of April 2024, the total capacity available for de-loading in Meralco’s area is more than 500 MW from more than 100 companies, the power distributor said.

- With a report from Alvin Elchico, ABS-CBN News