MGEN restores Cebu plants after quake

Meralco PowerGen Corporation (MGEN) said its Visayas thermal plants—Cebu Energy Development Corporation (CEDC) and Toledo Power Company (TPC)—automatically tripped as a safety precaution during the magnitude 6.9 earthquake that struck Northern Cebu at around 9:59 p.m. on September 30, 2025.

MGEN reported that technical teams promptly inspected both facilities and found no significant damage.

Two units of CEDC and one unit of TPC have been safely restarted and synchronized to the grid, while the remaining unit is under inspection and will be brought back online progressively.

CEDC has a net saleable capacity of 219.7 megawatts and TPC has 73 megawatts.

MGEN added that all units of its Panay-based plants were unaffected and continue normal operations, and that all personnel in the Visayas are safe and accounted for.

The company said it is closely coordinating with the Department of Energy, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), and local authorities to support system stability and meet Cebu and the Visayas grid’s power needs.

NGCP placed the Visayas grid under yellow alert on October 1 from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m., citing available capacity of 2,052 megawatts against a projected peak demand of 1,868 megawatts.

A total of 640.6 megawatts was unavailable, with 11 plants on forced outage due to the quake, 16 already offline before the incident, and three operating at derated capacities.

NGCP said the alert window was shortened after the synchronization of CEDC Units 1, 2, and 3, TPC 1A, and LGPP Unit 3, with additional capacity declared from EAUC Units 2, 3, and 4, CPPC Units 1 and 2, BDPP Units 1, 2, and 4, and PDPP3 Units E and G.

The grid operator noted that the Luzon and Mindanao grids remained under normal condition, even as Visayas reserves tightened following the quake.