NGCP taps SPC to provide ancillary services for 5 years

MANILA, Philippines — The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) has tapped SPC Island Power Corp. (SIPC) to provide ancillary services (AS) for its diesel plants for another five years to ensure the stability and reliability of the Visayas power grid.

NGCP entered into a new five-year ancillary services procurement agreement (ASPA) with SIPC as both companies found it necessary to extend the contract.

The AS would be sourced from SIPC’s Panay Diesel Power Plants (PDPP) 1 and 3 in Dingle, Iloilo City.

Under the new ASPA, SIPC will supply dispatchable reserve (DR) services to NGCP from PDPP 1 of up to 10 megawatts (MW) under a firm arrangement and up to five MW on a non-firm contract or when the firm capacity is not scheduled.

SIPC would also supply up to 30 MW of contingency reserve (CR) and up to 50 MW of DR from PDPP 3 on a non-firm contract.

DR refers to the generating capacity that is readily available for dispatch in order to replenish the contingency reserve service whenever a generating unit trips or a loss of a single transmission interconnection occurs.

Meanwhile, CR is the capacity allocated to cover the loss or failure of a power plant or transmission line in order to maintain the balance in the power grid.

The ASPA would have a rate of P0.85 per kilowatt-hour (kwh) for the firm contracted DR,  P1.25 per kwh for the non-firm DR, and P1.25 per kwh for the non-firm CR.

The ASPA would commence once the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) issues provisional authority or final approval of the application.

“SIPC must continue to provide the current contracted ancillary service beyond the 2013 ASPA to maintain the reliability of the power grid,” both firms said in their filing with the ERC.

Based on current levels of available AS in the Visayas grid, the firm contracted  have not yet met the required levels of AS.

AS is necessary to support the transmission of capacity and energy from resources to loads while maintaining reliable operation of the transmission system in accordance with good utility practice and the grid code.