DOE seeks 150 MW reserves for Visayas grid

The Department of Energy is targeting at least 150 megawatts of additional reserves for the Visayas grid as the region continues to face a power supply deficit caused by plant outages and tight operating margins.

At a press conference on June 1, 2026, Energy Undersecretary Mario C. Marasigan said the DOE had directed the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines to proceed with direct negotiations for additional ancillary services to strengthen grid reliability and provide more operating reserves in the region.

The DOE said Luzon and Mindanao remain stable, but the Visayas continues to be the agency’s primary area of concern.

Peak demand in the Visayas has exceeded 2,700 MW, while available supply has dropped to as low as 2,244 MW.

The supply deficit was attributed largely to the outage of four major generating units: Therma Visayas Units 1 and 2, Panay Energy Development Corp. Unit 3, and KEPCO SPC Unit 2.

KEPCO SPC Unit 2 is expected to return to service on June 2.

Panay Energy Development Corp. Unit 3 is scheduled to resume operations on July 3.

Therma Visayas Unit 2 is expected to return on Aug. 22, while Therma Visayas Unit 1 is expected to return by Aug. 30.

Energy Secretary Sharon Garin said in a media briefing Monday that the tight supply situation in the Visayas will be a “prolonged problem” because the region needs more baseload and mid-merit power plants to complement renewable energy facilities.

Garin said the Visayas relies heavily on power imports from Luzon and Mindanao.

She said renewable energy facilities such as solar and wind are increasing in the region, but their output depends on weather conditions.

Mid-merit plants can fill supply gaps by ramping up generation when electricity demand fluctuates throughout the day.

Baseload plants provide steady electricity supply.

Garin said building baseload assets would take three to five years.

The Visayas grid was again placed under yellow alert from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Monday, June 1, as four coal plants remained offline.

Since the start of the year, the Visayas grid has recorded 20 yellow alerts and four red alerts.

A yellow alert means power supply can still meet demand but reserves are insufficient to meet the grid’s contingency requirement.

A red alert means supply is no longer enough to meet demand, raising the risk of rotational power interruptions.

To ease the deficit, the Mindanao–Visayas Interconnection is operating at its full transfer capacity of 450 MW.

The restored Luzon–Visayas interconnection is also operating at an optimized transfer capacity of 250 MW after the Ilijan–Tayabas and Ilijan–Dasmariñas transmission lines were fully restored and re-energized.

The DOE said it is also pursuing the deployment of power barges, modular diesel generating units, and battery energy storage systems.

A 30-MW battery energy storage system facility in Mactan, Cebu, is undergoing final testing and commissioning.

Negotiations are also underway for at least 20 MW of modular diesel generation capacity.

The DOE said the Visayas grid has recently benefited from the addition of two renewable energy projects with a combined capacity of 68.99 MW.

In Luzon, Marasigan said actual supply reached 16,614 MW against demand of 14,534 MW, giving the grid reserves of more than 2,000 MW.

Hydropower generation in Luzon has been affected by below-normal water levels in key reservoirs.

Hydropower facilities in Luzon are operating at about 68.9% of installed capacity.

Storage hydropower projects are collectively operating at 67% of capacity.

Several Luzon generating units also experienced unplanned outages during the week, including Masinloc Unit 2, EERI Unit 1, Ilijan Block A, and Pagbilao Unit 2.

The DOE said most of these facilities have either returned to service or are expected to resume operations in the coming days.

Pagbilao Unit 2 is targeted to be fully operational by June 3.

The Luzon grid also received more than 200 MW of additional capacity from the commercial operation of the Olongapo Solar Power Project.

Mindanao remains in healthy operating condition, with actual supply exceeding 3,370 MW against demand of 2,775 MW.

The Mindanao surplus has allowed the grid to provide the full 450-MW transfer capacity to the Visayas through the Mindanao–Visayas Interconnection Project.

The DOE is also monitoring off-grid areas, particularly Catanduanes province, where rotational power interruptions have affected consumers.

The department said it is coordinating with the National Power Corp., National Electrification Administration, and First Catanduanes Electric Cooperative to restore full power supply to the province within the next 10 to 11 days.

For long-term supply, the DOE said it continues to fast-track projects under Task Force 200, its flagship program for accelerating the completion and commissioning of new power facilities.

As of 2026, 36 projects with a combined capacity of 1,505 MW have been commissioned under the initiative.

The commissioned projects include nine battery energy storage projects totaling nearly 170 MW.

Of the 25 priority projects being closely monitored under Task Force 200, nine are already operational.

The operational projects include the Olongapo Solar Power Project and newly commissioned battery energy storage facilities.

The remaining 16 projects represent 918 MW of additional capacity.

The DOE said these 16 projects are in the final stages of testing and commissioning and are expected to be integrated into the grid after completing permits, clearances, and market registration requirements.

The department said it remains committed to maintaining reliable, secure, and sufficient power supply nationwide while pursuing immediate and long-term solutions to address emerging power system challenges.