DOE admits planning failure over recurring Visayas grid outages

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Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Sharon Garin on Saturday acknowledged planning lapses that have contributed to a lack of new baseload generation in the Visayas grid.

“There hasn't been a new baseload capacity in Visayas for a long time. I guess I would say it's the planning side,” Garin said during a House of Representatives public hearing in Bacolod City.

The DOE chief said the agency is already conducting long-term simulations and energy auctions to secure future power supply.

“We formed teams last year to conduct simulations covering the next 10 years, which is why we are holding auctions. We really need to plan because without planning, there is nothing to execute,” Garin said.

Baseload power refers to the minimum amount of continuous and reliable electricity needed to supply a power grid around the clock. It is typically generated by stable facilities such as coal, geothermal and natural gas plants.

ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio likewise described the situation as a failure in planning, saying the necessary projections should have been made years ago to prevent the current baseload shortage.

“Obviously, this is a failure in planning,” Tinio said.

Tinio underscored the concern over the lengthy timelines needed to build new generation projects, particularly as the Visayas grid continues to face tight supply conditions.

According to the DOE, even if certain interventions are completed by 2027, power outages will persist in the grid, with the best-case scenario projecting at least one red alert and 19 yellow alerts.

Power plants

In recent months, widespread power outages have plagued the Visayas, triggering frequent yellow and red grid alerts across several parts of the region.

Garin said the recent red alerts in the Visayas were caused by the simultaneous forced outages of six power plants, compounded by breakdowns at two plants in Mindanao that further tightened available supply.

She said that even with power transfers from Luzon and Mindanao, supply remains insufficient to meet demand in the Visayas because of the number of offline plants.

The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) has reported that the Visayas grid continues to experience a supply deficit, although power imports from Luzon through interconnections are helping ease the shortage.

Ancillary services

During the hearing, lawmakers questioned whether the grid's ancillary services plan needs to be revisited for the Visayas, noting that reserves appeared insufficient to prevent rotational brownouts in recent months.

The DOE agreed that the plan needs to be revisited and that existing policy guidelines governing ancillary service provisions should be evaluated.

Ancillary services provide backup reserves and grid-stability support that operators use to maintain electrical frequency and prevent widespread blackouts during sudden supply disruptions.

Garin said ancillary services cannot be implemented in the Visayas using the same model applied in Luzon and Mindanao because of the region's geography.

“There is a provision for ancillary services, or our reserves, but it works in Luzon and Mindanao. The Visayas is different because it is an island,” Garin said.

“So even when you say, yes, we have 150 ancillary there or reserve, pero each island has a different personality, so the whole system of ancillary will not work properly in Visayas, I would say,” she added.

Tinio also raised concerns about primary power generation plants being tapped as ancillary service providers. Garin acknowledged that the practice is temporarily permitted by the agency but said the DOE is in the process of disallowing it.

To address the mismatch between daytime solar generation and high evening peak demand, the DOE identified solar power paired with battery energy storage systems as a fast-track solution.

The agency said battery storage could capture excess solar power generated during the day in the Visayas and release the stored electricity when demand surges in the evening. — MCG, GMA News

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