Bacolod City – While the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) claimed that the multiple power outages of power plants in Panay caused the massive black out on January 2 to 4, the tripping of Panay Electric Development Corp. (PEDC 1) already signaled the need for NGCP to take action, which it failed to do, Power Watch Negros Advocates Inc. secretary general Wennie Sancho said in a press statement.
NGCP should have alerted power generating companies to prevent a system collapse. There was a two-hour window when NGCP could have proactively called on the DU’s and EC’s to reduce their loads to prevent the collapse, he added.
Sancho emphasized that NGCP is tasked with grid stability. Stability involves proactive response to breakdowns and unexpected events. What is the contingency plan of NGCP? Unfortunately, it miserably failed to fulfill its obligation to ensure uninterrupted delivery of electricity.
Consumers pay for the efficiency and the reliability of service that NGCP must ensure such as the N-1 Contingency and Ancillary Services. The implementing rules of EPIRA requires that the system operates using N-1 contingency, which means that when one of the components of the system fails, electricity must be readily restored so that consumers do not experience an interruption in power supply, he said.
To help achieve this sensitive reliability requirement, the NGCP operates ancillary services. According to EPIRA, ancillary services are “services that are necessary to support the transmission of capacity and energy from resources to loads, while maintaining reliable operations of the transmission system in accordance with good utility services,” Sancho said.
The two primary components of ancillary services are the spinning reserve and the standby reserve. A spinning reserve is electricity generated but has no load – it is not intended for any DU. When a power outage occurs, the NGCP should use the spinning reserve to replace the lost capacity. Upon dispatching the spinning reserve, the standby reserve becomes the spinning reserve, he said.
Was this contingency plan utilized by NGCG on January 2? He asked. NGCP should be aware that operation and management of transmission lines are critical, there is no room for inefficiency, mismanagement or blunder, Sancho said.
But the NGCP insists that it was not to blame, saying there was no transmission disturbance before the tripping of PEDC1 and that it had undertaken actions with protocol. How about the N-1 contingency? He asked.
“It is high time for our government to take back what should not have been given in the first place. We must take back what rightfully belongs to us,” Sancho said.
According to Senate on Energy chair Raffy Tulfo there was an intelligence report divulging that China has the capability to remotely access our national grid and sabotage it. If this is true does NGCP have a contingency plan for this? he asked. (Chrysee Semillano via The Visayan Daily Star (TVDS), photo courtesy of TVDS)
