PHL power grid can be turned off remotely —Transco head

The head of the National Transmission Corporation (Transco) has confirmed that it is possible to take down the country’s power grid remotely.

During the Senate plenary deliberation on the proposed P2.3 billion budget of the Department of Energy for 2020, Senator Risa Hontiveros asked if it was possible to  remotely access the power grid system over the Internet.

She said Senate President Tempore Ralph Recto earlier raised the possibility that China could turn off the power grid remotely as it owns 40% of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines. 

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, finance committee vice chairman who defended the DOE budget, said he was told by Transco president Melvin Matibag that the system is operated by the SCADA or supervisory control and data acquisition and it can be operated remotely.

Hontiveros then asked the safeguards in place to ensure that the power grid cannot be paralyzed by other state actors or rogue hackers to which Gatchalian replied that Transco conducts technical regulatory, financial, and legal audit of NGCP.

“In fairness to Transco, they have hired technical people also to strengthen their technical audit of the transmission line,” Gatchalian said.

Hontiveros asked if the safeguards are enough noting that China is one of the most advanced in the world in terms of information and communication technology.

“So, iyong mga technical safeguards po ba natin sa ngayon, iyong mga technical guidelines po ba natin para hindi maparalisa iyong power grid natin in the event of that kind of a scenario will be able to protect us against our power system being taken down through remote access over the Internet.  Kasi baka sa hardware, ang strength natin sa technical guidelines.  What about on the software side?” she said.

The Transco president, speaking through Gatchalian, said they have the technical capability to audit and all they need is full access to the system, as well as to the facilities of the transmission line.

However, Transco does not have full access to the system.

“The president of Transco is telling me that they have limited access, Mr. President.  And that is also one of the issues raised by the good secretary, and also the president of Transco that the department should be given full access to the facilities as well as the assets of the transmission line,” said Gatchalian.

Hontiveros again asked if it is possible for the power grid to be taken down remotely, to which Gatchalian replied in the affirmative.

“I was advised by the president of Transco that it is possible. Given the technological advancement right now in the telecommunications as well as in software, that is possible,” Gatchalian said.

If that happens, he said, Transco can do a manual operation of the transmission.

“I was advised by Transco that it will take about 24 to 48 hours, depending on the gravity, to bring the grid back up,” said Gatchalian.

He said he shares the concern of Hontiveros and will call for an oversight meeting, through the Joint Congressional Energy Commission (JCEC), over the management and situation of the transmission lines.

“Thank you for raising this concern, and this is going to be an important topic during the JCEC meeting. And we will invite national security experts as well as the National Security Council to make sure that they have contingency plans when this type of occurrence happens,” he said. —LDF, GMA News