THE National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) placed the Visayas grid under yellow alert on Wednesday after 27 power plants tripped due to the strong earthquake that struck Tuesday night, leading to reduced power supply in the region.
NGCP said the yellow alert will remain in effect from 1 p.m. to 12 midnight as energy firms work to restore the generating capacity of the affected plants.
A yellow alert is declared when the available operating margin is not enough to meet the transmission grid’s contingency requirements.
The grid operator noted that the situation worsened as 16 other power plants were already offline even before the quake, while another facility was operating at derated capacity, bringing the total supply shortfall to 1,654.7 megawatts (MW).