ICSC: Rotating blackouts underscore hidden risks of centralized energy infrastructure
Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities REACTIVE QUEZON CITY, May 14 2026 –– The latest rotating blackouts across Luzon and Visayas underscore the systemic risks created by concentrating generation and transmission infrastructure in a limited number of large facilities and critical corridors. From the forecasted available capacity in Luzon of 16,975 MW reported by the NGCP earlier in the day, system availability dropped to 12,447 MW, reflecting how concentration of critical assets can lead to an immediate tightening of power supply conditions. The cascading tripping on May 13 of 500 kV Dasmariñas-Ilijan transmission line at 4:48AM and 500 kV [...]
Power outages still possible during, after May 9 elections
Experts echo initial call to urgently eliminate “pasa load” in electric bills QUEZON CITY, 28 April 2022 – Rotating brownouts are still likely to happen during and after the national elections on May 9, according to the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (ICSC), as forced shutdowns of baseload coal power plants continue to occur less than two weeks before the country chooses its next leaders. “Last January, the Department of Energy (DOE) highlighted that the key to averting the looming blackouts during and after the election period is to strictly follow the approved Grid Operating and [...]
Power supply for elections, rest of Q2 2022 in critical state – ICSC report
QUEZON CITY, 8 February 2022 – A climate and energy policy group predicts an electricity shortfall across the Luzon grid this summer, especially during the weeks leading up to and immediately after the coming elections this May, in a new report released today. The report by the Institute of Climate and Sustainable Cities (ICSC), entitled “Luzon Power Outlook: Determining the Adequacy of Power Supply for April to June 2022”, challenges projections of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) that the Philippines will have sufficient power supply in the second quarter of 2022. “Unreliable electricity supply would undermine [...]
Renewables, flexible generation key to power sector modernization – experts
QUEZON CITY, 8 June 2021 -- Energy policy experts pointed to renewable energy — mixed with demand side management, system reliability, and flexible generation — as the best way to address the immediate and long term implications of the current power crisis, leading to more investments, jobs, energy security, and a just economic recovery amid the pandemic. “Summer brownouts are not rare, the second quarter is the time when annual peak demand occurs, that is the time we need more capacity,” said Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (ICSC) energy transition advisor Alberto Dalusung III in a virtual press [...]