Iloilo city: Energy Secretary Sharon Garin announced plans to enhance the Visayas grid with an additional 135 megawatts (MW) of baseload capacity for Panay by 2028. This initiative aims to address the persistent red and yellow alerts affecting the region since May.
According to Philippines News Agency, Garin revealed during an online briefing that the government is also targeting an additional 270MW by 2029 and another 150MW in 2030. She assured the Regional Development Council (RDC) of Western Visayas of the government's commitment to a stable and resilient power supply. Renewable energy will be prioritized for islands where baseload capacity is not feasible.
As an interim measure, Garin stated that operators of key coal-fired power plants have been instructed to restore units currently on forced outage. Therma Visayas Inc. (TVI)'s Unit 2 is set to resume operations on Wednesday, followed by Unit 1 on Friday, and Unit 3 of the Panay Energy Development Corporation (PEDC) by October 3.
Approximately 253 MW of battery storage facilities will be deployed across the Visayas, particularly targeting Cebu, Panay, Leyte, and Negros. These systems will source capacity from renewable energy units and are intended to bolster supply during peak hours.
Garin emphasized the ongoing collaboration with the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) to integrate this capacity into the grid promptly. The NGCP issues red and yellow alerts when the power supply fails to meet the grid's contingency and regulatory demands.
