Rotating blackouts hit Luzon and the Visayas this week, revealing heavy reliance on a few major power plants and transmission lines. The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines raised red and yellow alerts on May 13 and 14 amid insufficient supply. Analysts from the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities warned that disruptions in shared facilities can cascade into wider shortages.
The outages began after the 500-kilovolt Dasmariñas-Ilijan line tripped at 4:48 a.m. and the 500-kV Tayabas-Ilijan line followed at 6:39 a.m. on May 14. These failures disconnected nearly 2,500 MW, including Ilijan 1 and 2 plants and EERI Units 1, 2 and 3, all LNG facilities.
Available capacity in Luzon dropped to 12,447 MW from a forecast of 16,975 MW. The Visayas grid faced possible outages of up to seven hours in 32 areas. Luzon, including Metro Manila, saw hour-long outages in nine areas.
ICSC Chief Data Scientist Jephraim Manansala said reserves should account for shared infrastructure like LNG terminals rather than single plants. The group called for more renewable energy, battery storage and fast-ramping capacity to reduce grid risks.
NGCP reported 17 plants on forced outage in Luzon since March and similar issues in the Visayas, leaving 4,242.5 MW unavailable. High heat indexes above 42 degrees Celsius added pressure on demand.
