New Toledo plant, Panay projects part of Visayas power expansion plan

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INCOMING power projects in Toledo City, Cebu and Panay are expected to strengthen the Visayas grid as the region continues its shift toward renewable energy, officials from the Department of Energy (DOE) said.

In a press briefing on Monday, May 18, DOE Sec. Sharon Garin said several well-designed power plants are already in development, noting that energy projects take time to complete, with some facilities expected to be finished within one to two years.

She said the Visayas grid now sources around 50% of its power from renewable energy, making battery storage essential to manage

intermittent supply from solar and wind facilities.

“If there is no sun, there is no solar power, so batteries are needed to help balance the grid,” Garin said, adding that the DOE has issued policies to strengthen energy storage development.

Undersecretary Felix William Fuentebella said around 1,132 megawatts of committed power capacity are expected to enter the Visayas grid by 2026, including 611 MW from solar and 469.5 MW from wind projects.

The DOE is also looking at around 110 MW of battery energy storage systems to help stabilize the grid as renewable energy capacity expands.

Meanwhile, Undersecretary Rowena Guevarra, who supervises the Renewable Energy Management Bureau and Electric Power Industry Management Bureau, said the DOE is planning green energy auctions for solar projects in the Visayas and Mindanao to accelerate renewable deployment.

The agency is also studying mid-merit plants to support grid reliability amid growing renewable capacity.

The push for new capacity is a welcome development after recent grid disruptions placed both the Luzon and Visayas grids under stress, leading to yellow alert declarations in the Visayas and red alerts in recent weeks, which in turn triggered rotating power interruptions in parts of Cebu.

Guevarra, confirmed that transmission lines were back online as of the morning of May 18, following emergency stabilization measures.

She said the DOE has directed the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) to restore affected lines and submit a full incident report, while a grid reliability task force has been formed to investigate the root cause of the disruptions.

The alert episodes were traced to multiple transmission and generation failures.

Fuentebella reported that the 500-kV Ilijan transmission line heading toward Metro Manila was disrupted at 4:46 a.m. on Wednesday, followed by another affected line serving Southern Luzon, including Tayabas, Quezon, and Bicol, at around 6:30 a.m. The loss of these major transmission corridors significantly reduced power transfer capability across the Luzon grid backbone.

Compounding the situation were generation shortfalls, including an EERIE 585 MW deficiency and the unexpected outage of Masinloc Unit 3 in Zambales with 324 MW capacity.

These combined losses drove system frequency down to 58.74 Hz—well below the standard 60 Hz—triggering automatic protection systems and load shedding to prevent a broader grid collapse.

Energy officials noted that up to 4,000 MW of transfer capability was affected when key transmission pathways, including the Dasmariñas line, were compromised.

Garin emphasized that this represented about 12% of Luzon’s available power at the time, highlighting the vulnerability of relying on clustered generation sources connected through a limited set of backbone transmission lines.

DOE officials also stressed that because Visayas often depends on power transfers from Luzon during tight supply conditions, instability in the main island grid has a direct impact on Visayas supply security.

“We need a grid operator that can fully account for incidents like these and ensure accountability,” Garin said, noting that investigations are ongoing to determine responsibility for the transmission failures and to prevent recurrence.(MyTVCebu)