President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. directed the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) Jan. 26 to ensure that the three-day total blackout in Panay Island in the first week of this year will not happen again, as he noted its dire impact on the economy and the inconvenience it brought to Western Visayas residents.
“The power interruption caused P3.8 billion in economic losses in the province of Iloilo alone, notwithstanding the inconvenience it brought to the people of Western Visayas,” Marcos said as he led the energization of the 450-megawatt Mindanao-Visayas Interconnection Project (MVIP) in a ceremony in Malacañang.
“So, let’s move forward with the lessons we have gained from the blackout, ensure that this massive inconvenience and loss for our people will not occur again,” Marcos said in his speech.
“We acknowledge the NGCP’s immense responsibility and role in maintaining the stability of our grid, including the need to ensure the completion of critical interconnection projects, and to undertake other necessary activities to support a safe, reliable grid operation,” he said.
The President said he looks forward to NGCP’s promised completion of the 230kV Cebu-Negros-Panay backbone project by March of this year, as well as the commitment it made to complete the Hermosa-San Jose 500kV transmission lines next month.
Marcos called on the country’s power transmission service provider to faithfully fulfill its obligations, which are necessary for the progress of the country, and reiterated the need for greater responsibility, transparency, and accountability among key players in the power sector with the NGCP as the singular operator of the Philippines’ united power grid.
Marcos also made an assurance that similar support and cooperation will always be extended continuously by the government to ensure the timely completion of all significant transmission projects, particularly those that will relieve congestion, as well as those needed to deliver additional capacities that can be provided by renewable energy.
He said he already directed the Energy Regulatory Commission to complete the reset of NGCP’s rate without further delay, and for the ERC and the Department of Energy to look into the proposal of allowing third parties to construct transmission projects at the pace required by the country’s power needs.
The energization of the 450-megawatt MVIP, by physically connecting the three major power grids of Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao, will allow power generated in Mindanao to supply homes and establishments in Visayas and now all the way to Luzon, and vice versa, the President said in a Presidential Communications Office report.
The DOE, meanwhile, announced the full commercial operations of the Reserve Market Jan. 26.
All power generation companies with generating capacity/units capable of providing ancillary services (AS) may now offer and sell AS even without an Ancillary Service Procurement Agreement (ASPA) with the NGCP, following the full commercial operations of the Reserve Market today, the DOE said Friday.
Reserves, commonly referred to as AS, are services needed to maintain balance in the power system to ensure normal frequency and voltage levels in response to demand changes, variability of renewable energy, and possible loss of a large generating unit, the DOE said.
Integrated into the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM), the Reserve Market aims to co-optimize energy and reserves, which may result in optimal schedules and prices for energy and reserve requirements, fostering competition and affordability while ensuring grid security and reliability.
This development will enable the NGCP, as the country’s system operator and sole buyer of reserves, to fully comply with its mandate of ensuring that sufficient levels of reserves are available at all times, and can be immediately dispatched whenever needed. ||
