Visayas grid back on red alert

MANILA, Philippines — The Visayas grid was placed under yet another red alert yesterday as several large coal-fired power plants remained unavailable and electricity imports from Mindanao stayed limited.

A red alert, issued when available power supply is insufficient to meet demand, was in effect from 3 to 9 p.m., according to the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines.

The NGCP hoisted a yellow alert from 1 to 3 p.m. and again from 9 to 11 p.m. due to low power reserves forecast during the periods.

This brought the number of red alerts in the Visayas to 39 and yellow alerts to 103 since the start of the year.

The persistent power supply crunch in the Visayas and Mindanao drove electricity spot prices to record highs during the August supply period. At the spot market, power rates in the Visayas surged by 64.9 percent to P18.59 per kilowatt-hour in August from P11.29 per kWh in the previous month.

Mindanao saw an even steeper increase, with its average spot rate surging by 88.2 percent to P19.56 per kWh from P10.39 per kWh.

Consumer group Power for People Coalition urged the Energy Regulatory Commission to suspend spot market operations in the two regions until the electricity supply situation stabilizes.