MANILA, Philippines — The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) has firmly refuted allegations suggesting its failure to stabilize the transmission system, reiterating that its mandate is confined to transmission of power from producers to grid-connected areas of the country.
“As the transmission service provider, NGCP can only give an overview of the current supply and demand situation and endeavor to dispatch any and all available power. It cannot intervene on matters concerning power generation,” the NGCP said in a statement.
NGCP maintains its earlier pronouncements that there was no transmission disturbance before the tripping of the Panay Energy Development Corp. Unit 1 at 12:06 p.m. on Jan. 2.
“After this event, NGCP was able to recover the transmission system and normalize voltage. This normal voltage situation persisted until several power plants inexplicably tripped at 2:19 p.m. Data from our system show no abnormality in voltage and system stability,” the NGCP said.
“Despite this, critics persist on blaming NGCP for what are clearly problems arising from the unplanned shutdowns of power generators. It is alarming to hear policymakers immediately make conclusions based on assumptions contrary to fact. We are firm in our position that the system prior to the 2:19 p.m. multiple tripping was normal, and our actions were undertaken within protocols. Any contrary statement is speculative,” it lamented.
“Rather than using NGCP as a scapegoat, we urge policymakers to be objective in their search for facts and not coddle certain sectors,” NGCP said.
“This is not a time to push personal or political agendas, but a time for honest-to-goodness solution finding. We again reiterate our push for a comprehensive industry-wide approach to resolve the persistent power supply issues on Panay Island and elsewhere in the country,” it stated.
In line with the latest incident, Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla said the department is in full support of calls made by legislative leaders and Panay local officials for a legislative investigation, with a view to revisit and review the franchise of NGCP.
Lotilla said the DOE will recommend to Congress that the review include the separation and transfer of the systems operation function from NGCP, which shall focus on the transmission network provider function.
“If they can’t carry that out, why don’t we therefore segregate it from them and they can focus on construction and operation of the transmission grid,” he said.
Lotilla said the systems operation can instead be carried out by another entity which can focus exclusively on that particular function.
Sought for comment on this proposal, NGCP spokesperson Cynthia Alabanza said separating the systems operation function will impact efficiency.
Alabanza also said “doing this would really cement the reputation of the Philippines as a very risky investment area.”
Meanwhile, Lotilla said DOE will also recommend to Congress authorizing the Energy Regulatory Commission to impose administrative penalties on the transmission concessionaire of P2 million per day of violation or non-compliance with regulatory rules, or one percent of the cost of the delayed project based on the ERC-approved project cost, whichever is higher.