Grid alerts, high WESM prices signal need for power system flexibility
Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities PRESS RELEASE QUEZON CITY, 01 June 2026 –– The Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (ICSC) emphasized that recurring grid alerts and sustained high prices in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) point to a fundamental gap in the Philippine power system: the lack of flexible generation capacity. Throughout May 2026, grid alerts have been repeatedly raised across Luzon and the Visayas, with multiple instances of yellow and red alerts declared due to thin operating reserves. These alerts have, at times, necessitated rotational blackouts in multiple areas across the country to keep the [...]
ICSC: Luzon and Visayas grid alerts underscore the strong need for a more resilient, distributed power system
Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities REACTIVE QUEZON CITY, 17 April 2026 –– The yellow alerts raised over the Luzon and Visayas grids yesterday highlight a recurring vulnerability in the Philippines’ power system: the country’s energy sector remains baseload-centric and relies on large power plants, making the grid more exposed to disruptions that affect Filipino households and businesses across the country. The Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (ICSC) has constantly emphasized that relying heavily on only a few large power plants makes the energy system less flexible and unreliable. Even short-term outages or plants operating below normal capacity [...]
ICSC: Flexible Grids, Not Just Baseload, Are Key to Philippine Energy Reliability
QUEZON CITY, 10 February 2026 — As yellow and red alerts continue to affect the Philippine power grid, the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (ICSC) emphasizes that weather-dependent renewable energy is not the primary cause of grid instability. True reliability depends on the system’s flexibility and its ability to respond to sudden changes in supply and demand. In a position paper released by ICSC, they stressed, “The goal of any power system should not be to eliminate variable resources, but to build a flexible system that can thrive amid this natural variability.” As the Philippines’ energy mix remains [...]