DOE Warns Visayas Power Supply Deficit May Persist for 1 to 2 Years

The Department of Energy (DOE) has announced that the fragile power supply situation in the Visayas grid will remain a "prolonged problem," with stabilization efforts expected to take one to two years. Energy Secretary Sharon Garin stated in a press briefing that the government is rushing to deploy emergency, temporary energy solutions to establish necessary grid reserves. The chronic problem stems from a severe timeline mismatch between rapidly accelerating consumer demand and the completion of vital power plants and transmission infrastructure.

Infrastructure Gaps and High Renewable Intermittency

According to energy officials, the Visayas region currently leads the nation in clean energy adoption, with renewables comprising about 45 percent of its power supply. However, the grid's heavy reliance on intermittent solar and wind sources leaves it highly vulnerable during peak hours when the sun is down or wind speeds drop. To counter this, Secretary Garin emphasized that the region desperately needs traditional, steady baseload and mid-merit power plants to guarantee a continuous electricity flow.

Building these foundational assets takes three to five years, creating a critical multi-year near-term supply gap. Consequently, the Visayas remains unsustainably dependent on submarine transmission cables importing excess power from the Luzon and Mindanao grids. When those external grids experience tight conditions or hardware breakdowns, the Visayas grid is immediately thrown into instability.

Outages Drive Recent Wave of Grid Alerts

A relentless streak of grid constraints has triggered 20 yellow alerts and 4 red alerts across the Visayas. Energy Undersecretary Mario Marasigan revealed that actual regional demand can spike to over 2,700 megawatts (MW) during peak hours, while available local supply can plunge as low as 2,044 MW.

This 656-MW deficit has been heavily exacerbated by simultaneous forced outages at major coal-fired generation facilities, stripping roughly 400 MW off the grid:

Kepco SPC Power Corp. (Unit 2): Resumed operations on June 2, providing a minor 100-MW buffer.

Panay Energy Development Corp. (Unit 3): Slated to return to service by July 3.

Therma Visayas Inc. (Units 1 and 2): Critical repairs are delayed, keeping these units completely offline until late August.

Immediate Interventions and Emergency Deployment

To prevent total grid collapse and minimize rotational brownouts, the DOE and the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) are deploying a multi-pronged emergency response:

Emergency Capacity Injection Target: 150 MW (69 MW New Renewable Projects, 30 MW Mactan Battery Storage (BESS), 20 MW Modular Diesel Gensets & Barges, and 31 MW Negotiated Ancillary Services)

Fast-tracking Renewables: Pushing for the immediate commercial entry of 69 MW of committed renewable energy projects.

Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS): Commissioning a 30-MW battery system in Mactan, Cebu, to balance daily solar power fluctuations.

Temporary Modular Power: Negotiating for 20 MW of modular diesel generator sets and reviewing the deployment of floating power barges.

Ancillary Procurement: Directing the NGCP to bypass standard timelines and engage in direct negotiations for ancillary services to protect grid reliability.

Government authorities have warned that these interim patches will not completely eliminate grid risks. The DOE has issued directives to government offices and private distribution utilities—like Visayan Electric Company (VECO) and More Electric and Power Corporation (MORE Power)—to prepare demand-side mechanisms like the Interruptible Load Program (ILP). Officials reiterate that without aggressive energy conservation from commercial businesses and daily consumers during hot afternoon peak hours, localized power shedding will continue through next year.