July 17, 2024 - The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) placed the Luzon grid under a yellow alert on Wednesday afternoon, citing a thinner power supply caused by the tripping of the 417.4-megawatt San Gabriel power plant.
The yellow alert will be in effect from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m., according to an NGCP advisory. While Luzon has an available capacity of 13,198 megawatts (MW), peak demand is expected to reach 12,028 MW, leaving a relatively small operating margin of 1,178 MW.
"This alert is triggered when the operating margin is insufficient to meet the transmission grid's contingency requirement," the NGCP explained.
The advisory also revealed that several power plants are currently unavailable or running below capacity. One plant has been out since 2023, eight more have tripped between January and May 2024, and six additional plants are experiencing reduced output between June and July this year. In total, 1,652.7 MW of generation capacity is unavailable to the grid.
The Visayas and Mindanao grids are operating normally as of Wednesday.