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PANAY Island needs at least 150 megawatts (MW) of new baseload capacity to keep pace with rising electricity demand and provide a buffer against outages at aging generating units, the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) said.
Neil Martin Modina, NGCP assistant vice president and head of system operations for the Visayas, said Panay still has excess capacity under normal operating conditions but needs additional generation as electricity consumption continues to rise.
“The ideal for Panay is the creation of another 150-MW power plant,” Modina said during a forum in Iloilo City.
Panay currently has four major baseload generating units, all coal-fired, with a combined installed capacity of about 449 MW. These consist of three units operated by Panay Energy Development Corp. (PEDC), with Units 1 and 2 at about 83 MW each and Unit 3 at 150 MW, and a 135-MW unit operated by Palm Concepcion Power Corp. (PCPC).
However, the plants have been operating for more than a decade and have been derated, meaning they can no longer consistently generate at their maximum capacities.
Alarming Outages
Several outages involving these facilities have contributed to power shortages and rotational brownouts in Panay and other parts of the Visayas.
“If the demand in Panay is 520 MW, and none of the biggest plants here goes offline, you can still give 45 MW to Negros Island,” NGCP Assistant Vice President Neil Modina said.
But the situation changes when major generating units are unavailable. Modina said the Visayas has been experiencing annual electricity demand growth of about 8% to 10%, increasing pressure on available generation and transmission facilities.
The region currently imports an average of about 300 MW from Mindanao and 250 MW from Luzon. With these supplies available, the Visayas can maintain a reserve of roughly 300 MW to 400 MW.
“Every year, consumption increases,” Modina said, adding that the reserve can quickly disappear when generating plants encounter problems.
MORE Power Chief Operating Officer Ronald Torres said Iloilo is particularly vulnerable because it is at the “tail end” of the Visayas grid. Electricity supplied from Luzon and Mindanao passes through Cebu before reaching Negros and Panay.
Transmission constraints also prevent Panay from fully accessing surplus electricity from other regions, making local generation increasingly important.
“When you have transmission constraints, we cannot just import everything from Luzon,” a MORE Power official said.
Managing Supply Shortfalls
The supply problem has already led to manual load dropping (MLD), a measure used by the grid operator to prevent a wider system collapse when available supply falls below demand.
MORE Power said its first MLD occurred on May 13 after outages at major power plants. On Sept. 11, three major generating units in the Visayas—Therma Visayas Units 1 and 2 and PEDC Unit 3—were offline at the same time. They returned to service around Sept. 15 but went offline again several days later.
NGCP Assistant Vice President Cynthia Perez-Alabanza described the Visayas grid’s situation as “acute” because several generating plants were unavailable simultaneously.
“The supply deficiency you see is because there are plants that are out,” Perez-Alabanza said.
Under the Philippine Grid Code, NGCP can order MLD when available generation is insufficient to meet demand. The measure is intended to prevent a broader blackout across the Visayas.
MORE Power said NGCP determines the amount of power that must be cut each hour, while its control center decides which feeders will be disconnected. The largest reductions typically occur between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m., when demand is high.
Customers enrolled in the Interruptible Load Program are called on first to operate their own generators. Other customers with available generators may also be asked to run them, while hospitals, military installations and government facilities are among those given priority for continued electricity service.
The scale of the cuts determines the extent of the brownouts. MORE Power said reductions of about 10 MW can affect smaller feeders, while cuts of around 35 MW, equivalent to roughly 30% of peak demand, can result in full rotational brownouts.
Calls For New Supply And Grid Changes
With the existing plants aging and renewable sources unable to provide firm power throughout the day, officials and lawmakers are considering longer-term measures to address the shortage.
MORE Power said a separate grid for Panay was among proposals discussed during a congressional hearing. The possibility of allowing private companies to build transmission lines if NGCP cannot complete projects quickly was also raised, potentially requiring amendments to the Electric Power Industry Reform Act.
The utility also called for the fast-tracking of an LNG plant planned for Iloilo.
Torres said baseload capacity is needed in the Visayas, particularly as the government maintains a moratorium on new coal-fired power plants.
“So normally pag nag-put up ka ng base load plant, 2-3 years minimum,” (“So normally, if you put up a base load plant, it’s 2-3 years minimum”) Torres said. A coal-fired plant typically takes three to five years to complete.
MORE Power officials also noted that renewable energy facilities have lower dependable capacity, estimated at about 30% compared with baseload plants.
Meanwhile, the Department of Energy is drafting a Panay Master Plan intended to provide a framework for meeting the island’s future development needs, including planned power projects.
NGCP said committed generating facilities in Cebu and Panay that were exempted from the coal moratorium are also being pursued for earlier completion. These include a 169-MW plant in Cebu and a 135-MW baseload facility in Panay.
Modina said the additional facilities would help provide steady supply and back up existing plants as they age.
The proposed 150-MW plant for Panay, alongside faster development of committed projects, transmission improvements and potential LNG generation, would form part of efforts to address the island’s immediate supply constraints while preparing for continued growth in electricity demand.
Source:
https://www.manilatimes.net/2026/09/27/regions/ngcp-panay-needs-new-150-mw-power-plant/2433467
https://www.dailyguardian.com.ph/blog/panay-grid-iloilo-lng-plant-eyed-amid-visayas-power-crunch
https://mb.com.ph/2026/09/24/ngcp-pushes-150-mw-power-plant-for-panay