Rotational Brownouts Expected in Metro Cebu on Wednesday

The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) has placed the Visayas grid under red alert, warning of possible Manual Load Dropping (MLD) on Wednesday, July 8. This means that Metro Cebu consumers may experience rotational brownouts lasting several hours due to limited power supply.

According to the NGCP, manual load dropping may be implemented from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. across several distribution utilities in the Visayas, including Visayan Electric (VECO), Mactan Electric Company (MECO), CEBECO I, CEBECO II, and CEBECO III, among others.

In a statement, the NGCP explained that the emergency measure is necessary because of limited generation in the Cebu-Negros-Panay sub-grids. The schedule for manual load dropping is subject to cancellation should system conditions improve or electricity demand fall below projections.

Visayan Electric warned its customers of potential rotational brownouts to comply with NGCP’s required load reduction. Portions of Cebu City, Mandaue City, the City of Naga, and Minglanilla have been identified for possible rotational outages from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Among the areas that may be affected are Carreta, Tejero, Tinago, Mabolo, and San Roque in Cebu City; portions of Mandaue City, including the North Reclamation Area, Subangdako, Guizo, Tipolo, Ibabao-Estancia, Maguikay, Paknaan, and Tabok; several barangays in the City of Naga; and parts of Minglanilla, including Guindaruhan, Tunghaan, and Tungkop.

A Red Alert is declared when available operating reserves fall to a critical level, increasing the likelihood of power interruptions to prevent a wider collapse of the transmission system.

Wednesday’s power shortage followed a series of generation setbacks, including the tripping of the Iloilo-PEDC transmission line, which isolated the recently reactivated PEDC Unit 3. The emergency shutdown of Palm Concepcion Power Corp. (PCPC) also contributed to the power shortage.

This is the second time this week that the Visayas grid has been placed under red alert. On Monday, July 6, the NGCP declared a yellow alert due to limited generation capacity.

The NGCP is advising consumers to conserve electricity during the peak hours of 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. and to follow all instructions from their distribution utilities.