NGCP, ERC explore avenues to streamline regulatory compliance

MANILA, Philippines — The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) said it has discussed with the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) the streamlining of the company’s regulatory compliance with the commission.

NGCP said its executives, led by company vice chairman Henry Sy Jr., met with ERC chairperson and CEO Monalisa Dimalanta to explore avenues to streamline regulatory compliance.

“Following our technical team’s discussion on the Transmission Development Plan yesterday, our meeting with chairperson Dimalanta will hopefully pave the way to ensure efficiency of our regulatory compliance processes and timelines,” Sy said.

“We were assured that all processes involving NGCP will be characterized by the enabling environment and rule of law mentioned by President Marcos in his State of the Nation Address,” he said.

The ERC said it regularly engages in discussions with regulated entities to identify valuable opportunities for enhancement within the regulatory framework.

“Open dialogues play a crucial role in fostering a collaborative strategy to address challenges on achieving a reliable and sustainable energy future exploring avenues to streamline regulatory compliance,” the commission said.

Aside from exploring ways to streamline regulatory compliance, the discussion between the ERC and NGCP also focused on the company providing the status of its pending projects.

NGCP, the country’s power transmission grid operator, also presented to the ERC last Tuesday the proposed transmission development plan (TDP) for the years 2023 to 2040.

The TDP is a strategic plan formulated to address the country’s transmission infrastructure needs.

It outlines the necessary expansion and upgrade of the transmission system in order to ensure the reliable and efficient delivery of electricity across the country.

The ERC said among those presented by the NGCP was the company’s roadmap to achieve the country’s generation targets, which is notably driven by renewable energy sources.

The commission said these generation targets align with the target of the Philippine Energy Plan (PEP), which seeks to increase renewable energy generation to 35 percent by 2030 and 50 percent by 2040.

“Implementing the PEP will require updating transmission lines to efficiently transmit additional supply to distribution utilities,” the ERC said.

NGCP has also provided the ERC with the developments in the Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao grids, such as the status of the Mariveles-Balsik San Jose 500-kilovolt transmission project, the Cebu-Negros-Panay 230kV backbone project, and efforts in deploying new power plants in the Zamboanga area and CARAGA region.

NGCP holds a 25-year concession and a 50-year Congressional franchise to expand and operate the country’s power transmission grid.

Since 2009, it has completed a total of 56 projects, with investments in the transmission system amounting to P300 billion.