NGCP vows to complete major transmission projects this year

MANILA, Philippines — The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) has committed to finish several large transmission projects within the next months to bolster the country’s transmission system and better support the power system.

Among these critical projects are the Hermosa-San Jose transmission project, Cebu-Negros-Panay interconnection projects and the Mindanao-Visayas interconnection project (MVIP).

“We are committed to finishing the three main projects within the next few months,” NGCP spokesperson Cynthia Alabanza said at a briefing yesterday.

The P52-billion MVIP, for one, has been energized by NGCP since April 30 with an initial load of 22.5 megawatts (MW).

The MVIP’s transfer capacity will be gradually increased to 112 MW by the end of the month, with its full transfer capacity of 450 MW targeted to be reached by the third quarter.

“There are so many moving factors. Mr. Anthony Almeda (NGCP president and CEO) has made his commitment to making sure that these projects are finished as soon as possible,” said Alabanza. “We will make sure that these will be completed this year.”

In an interview with ANC last Wednesday, Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla said he wants the NGCP to finish the three major interconnection systems.

“One is the Bataan to Hermosa line, which has been delayed already for ages. The Cebu-Negros-Panay interconnection which has also been delayed for many years, and then the Mindanao-Visayas interconnection,” Lotilla said.

The energy chief has likewise called on all stakeholders, including landowners and local government units, to help facilitate the construction of these crucial transmission lines. “But the main responsibility, of course, remains with NGCP,” he said.

Alabanza acknowledged that many factors contributed to the delays of these projects. “Right-of-way has really been a problem… and we have asked for the help of the government in this,” she said.

Still, the NGCP called for a holistic approach to power planning and better coordination within the energy supply chain. “We need to ensure that all three sectors of the energy supply chain are strong and resilient so that not all solutions are placed solely on the shoulders of one of the members,” Alabanza said.

She said the system disturbance and widespread outages on Panay Island last April 27 to 29, as well as the red alert raised in the Luzon grid, resulted from a confluence of events that support the NGCP’s call for better and proper power system planning across all three: generation, transmission and distribution.

“In the case of Panay Island, NGCP’s protection systems, which were communicated and coordinated with its grid-connected customers from both the generation and distribution sides, functioned as intended,” the NGCP said.

“It was unfortunate that a power plant disengaged from the transmission system unexpectedly,” said the NGCP, noting that only the consumers connected to the line that tripped should have been disengaged from the grid.

It added: “The resulting undervoltage and underfrequency was severe and unrecoverable, and was the direct cause of the tripping of other power plants connected to the system and, ultimately, the Panay sub-grid collapse.”

The power transmission operator said the subsequent tripping that occurred on April 28 and 29 was a direct result of the avoidable events of April 27.

With regard to the Luzon red alert, NGCP’s initial investigation showed that this was due to the tripping of Bolo-Masinloc 230-kV Line 2.

It said the line is N-1, or operates with a redundancy, wherein the load carried by Line 2 when it tripped was automatically transferred to Line 1. Each of these lines is more than capable of singularly carrying the entire load of the Bolo-Masinloc 230-kV facility at any time.

“It should have ended there. Similarly, there was an unexpected and undesired response from a generating plant which tipped the balance of supply and demand, and a red alert was raised,” NGCP said.

NGCP said prior to the occurrence of the faults, unplanned outages of plants and the derationing of other plants contributed to the situation.

It said these unplanned outages are outside of the Grid Operating and Maintenance Program planned well ahead and coordinated by NGCP with the power plants and approved by the DOE.

Meanwhile, Alabanza said the NGCP is open to audits to be conducted on the company.

“We also lay ourselves open to inspections and audits by different government agencies for so long as it is covered by regulatory framework, we are open to it,” she said.

Meanwhile, environmental group Greenpeace has debunked the claim of Pangasinan Rep. Mark Cojuangco that electricity rates will go down to P1.30 per kilowatt hour (kwh) once the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) becomes operational.

At a press conference yesterday, Greenpeace campaigner Khevin Yu also questioned the track record of the United States firm offering modular nuclear power plants to the Philippines.

Yu said that a consumer will even shoulder the 0.12 kwh to fund the waste management fund and the decommissioning fund provided under the proposed House Bill No. 7049 or the proposed Philippine National Nuclear Energy Act.

“We don’t know the basis of Congressman Cojuangco but the only way to tell the reality is to look at the current prices. At present, it is even difficult to tell the actual price of nuclear power in the context of the Philippines as unlike other countries, we don’t have state-owned companies involved in the generation sector,” Yu noted.

He added that under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act law, the generating sector was fully privatized.

“This means that the government cannot guarantee or be involved in the operation of a nuclear power plant,” he said. — Bella Cariaso