Lawmakers Challenge DOE’s Energy Roadmap As Power Shortages Persist
- May 30, 2026
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Recurring red and yellow alerts in the country’s power grids are being driven primarily by inadequate generation capacity and power plant outages rather than transmission failures, lawmakers said during a joint House inquiry, as they pressed the Department of Energy (DOE) to address what they described as deeper structural problems in the energy sector.
At a joint hearing of the House Committees on Energy and Legislative Franchises, several lawmakers argued that the focus on transmission issues following the May 13 disturbance in the Luzon and Visayas grids overlooks the more pressing challenge of insufficient and unreliable power supply.
NGCP’s Stance
Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez said records presented during the inquiry showed that the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) acted promptly in responding to the May 13 transmission incident.
According to Rodriguez, the affected 500-kilovolt Ilijan–Tayabas transmission line was restored by 2:44 p.m., while the Dasmariñas–Ilijan line returned to service at 4:52 p.m. on the same day. He said the restoration demonstrated that NGCP fulfilled its obligations as grid operator and preserved available power supply despite the disturbance.
“Clearly, NGCP performed its duty. They reported the incident, they fixed the lines, and they preserved the power supply that was available,” Rodriguez told the hearing.
The lawmaker noted that yellow alerts continued in the Visayas even after transmission lines were restored because several generating plants remained offline. He questioned efforts to attribute prolonged grid alerts solely to transmission-related concerns, arguing that the larger issue was the lack of available generation.
Murang Kuryente Party-list Rep. Mark Artur Yap echoed the same view, saying rotational brownouts are ultimately the result of an imbalance between electricity supply and demand.
Addressing DOE officials, Yap challenged suggestions that reporting or compliance issues were at the heart of the outages.
“The real issue is supply and demand. If supply is more than enough, why are there rotating brownouts?” Yap said. He added that the recurring outages were more convincingly explained by generation deficiencies than by administrative lapses.
Questions On Renewable Energy Plan
The hearing also highlighted sharp criticism of the government’s long-term energy policy from Pangasinan Rep. Mark Cojuangco, who chairs the House Committee on Nuclear Energy.
Cojuangco argued that the DOE’s heavy reliance on renewable energy targets fails to adequately account for the intermittent nature of solar and wind power. He questioned how solar facilities could meet electricity demand during nighttime hours and expressed doubts about the current capabilities of battery storage systems to provide sufficient backup power.
The lawmaker noted that solar plants typically operate at around a 15 percent capacity factor, which translates to only a few hours of effective generation each day. He maintained that portraying wind and solar as a complete solution to the country’s energy challenges risks creating unrealistic public expectations.
Cojuangco also raised concerns over repeated power plant shutdowns, suggesting that some generating units may be operating under strain because reserve margins remain tight.
“I find it implausible that this happens in isolation. Maybe they are being forced to run at maximum capacity because supply is insufficient,” he said.
Beyond renewable energy policy, the congressman criticized the implementation of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA), arguing that the market framework has failed to encourage timely investments in new generation capacity.
He also described the Philippine Energy Plan as unrealistic in its current form and warned that pursuing energy targets without enough baseload and reliable generation could eventually threaten energy security and increase costs for consumers.
Generation Constraints
During the hearing, DOE officials acknowledged that several power plant outages that occurred after the May 13 transmission disturbance were separate events and were not caused by NGCP’s transmission line trips. The agency also confirmed that it regularly receives notifications and advisories from the grid operator regarding major system incidents.
For its part, NGCP reiterated that both affected transmission lines were restored within hours and that overall grid stability was maintained during the incident. The company also stressed that supply conditions had already been strained before May 13.
Data presented during the hearing showed that approximately 1,728 megawatts of generating capacity in Luzon were unavailable because of forced outages and derations before the transmission disturbance. In the Visayas, around 857 MW of capacity was unavailable, resulting in a Yellow Alert even before the incident occurred.
Lawmakers also cited historical grid data indicating that 235 of 243 recorded red alerts between 2016 and 2025, or 96.7 percent, were linked to generation-related issues rather than transmission failures.
The figures, lawmakers said, reinforce a growing consensus in Congress that the country’s recurring power disruptions cannot be resolved by focusing on transmission concerns alone. Instead, they argued, policymakers must prioritize the development of dependable generation capacity to ensure a more stable and reliable power system in the years ahead.
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