NGCP says it’s open to performance audit

The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) on Friday expressed its willingness to undergo a performance audit, the first to be conducted since it took over the country’s transmission system operations in 2009.

“As long as it is under the regulatory framework we function in, including our concession agreement, our franchise and all applicable rules and regulations, we are open,” NGCP spokesperson Cynthia Alabanza said at a virtual press briefing.

Earlier this week, Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla raised the idea of putting the NGCP under a regulatory performance audit to be conducted by the Energy Regulatory Commission following the recent transmission system issues, such as the brownouts in the Luzon and Visayas grids.

“We have proven that we are open to government agencies, even media, as long as we comply with the strict security measures of our facilities. We have allowed many officials. That invitation is always open… We are committed to the pursuit of our mandate, and we just want better service to the public,” Alabanza said.

On May 8, the grid operator placed the Luzon grid under red alert, which prompted Meralco to implement rotational brownouts after five power plants were forced to shut down amid the summer heat.
 
A red alert status indicates that there is zero ancillary service or that a generation deficiency exists.
 
Panay was hit by a series of power outages in late April, which affected the provinces within the island.
 
The NGCP has committed to finishing key transmission projects such as the Mindanao-Visayas Interconnection Project, the Cebu-Negros-Panay Interconnection Project, and the Bataan/Hermosa-San Jose Line within the year.

“As regards our projects, there are delays and many factors that contributed to this. – right-of-way (most significant part of the timeline), permitting, even COVID-19 affected our timelines. We asked help from the government for this, even the Supreme Court for our right of way. We have made numerous calls for support for our projects,” Alabanza said.

“We are grateful for the support of the DOE through Secretary Lotilla and the DILG through Secretary Abalos. We felt the support. 2022 bumilis na yung permitting, we hope that continues. But the fact is we need to make up for the years of difficulties that we encountered. Even during COVID we did as much as we could. But we are committed to finish within the next few months, so we can help strengthen the power system. But again, we can only commit to developing our part, but the whole energy supply chain needs to be resilient,” she added.
 
The grid operator also called for better and proper system planning following the recent incidents of power outages that hit the Luzon grid and Panay Island.

“We continue to advocate for a holistic approach to power planning. Development in all sectors involved in the power industry must be coordinated, with due attention given to each. We support the Department of Energy in all its efforts, and we are confident of its continued support to all sectors,” the company said.  —VBL, GMA Integrated News