Power Sector to See Brighter Days in 2025

Brighter days await the Philippine energy sector, with no power alerts expected in the year ahead amid intensified efforts to strengthen the country's supply, placing renewables at the forefront.

- By Brix Lelis

This year has been a challenging one for the country, with memories of a region-wide power outage hitting Western Visayas just a day after New Year festivities.

The massive power outage crippled the islands of Panay and Guimaras, along with parts of Negros, plunging consumers into blackouts and sweltering heat on the second day of the year.

This was blamed on the tripping of three of the largest power-generating units and the planned maintenance shutdown of a 150-megawatt power plant, disrupting about 68.75 percent of the total 656 MW in-island generation on the Panay sub-grid.

Power outages lasted for several days before the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) fully restored loads to Panay Island.

But the country's nightmare didn't end there, as the arrival of the scorching summer season, compounded by the El Niño phenomenon, triggered a series of alert notices on the national grid.

Latest NGCP data showed that a total of 78 alert notices, consisting of 16 red and 62 yellow, were raised across the country this year, the bulk of which were in Luzon.

Against this backdrop, one might wonder if this nightmare will continue to haunt Filipinos in the coming year.

The Department of Energy (DOE) boldly declares, "No."

"No potential alert notices for all grids," the DOE stated in the Power Situation Outlook 2025 obtained by The STAR.