By Myrna M. Velasco
The National Control Center of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) at its headquarters in Quezon City.
Brownouts are two-headed monsters – they cause inconvenience and rob us of economic opportunities. Nobody wants them, for sure.
Still, there’s a bigger issue that the public must understand about power interruptions or the mere flow of electricity in our homes and businesses.
Typically, our appreciation of electricity usage is much like the steak being served on our plates. Little had we known the risks and the difficult processes that the cattle-raisers would have to deal with just for us to have a taste of that sumptuous meal.
The same thing with electricity – the known science could come up with endless explanations as to how complex the power system works; and how the rates reflected in our bills are calculated via intricate methodologies of economic regulation so they won’t come too punitive in our pockets. Again, we struggle understanding them.
But in reality, power project developers (across the chain of power generation, transmission and distribution) are taking investment risks that physically and technically transcends the “ain’t no mountain high, ain’t no valley low and ain’t no ocean deep” geographic scales – and to add that forays into these projects would require billions of investments.
Tone down the ‘utility-speak’
On the part of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), for instance, no one expects that we appreciate the high-voltage transmission lines and substations on aesthetic value. Extremely unfortunate that no hunky or sexy displays out there.
The humdrums of technical terms are also endless: Yellow and red alerts, automatic load dropping, ancillary services, frequency imbalances and trippings, are just among the many. One word there: Boring!
But we cannot just leave things at that. The bottom line is: the power utilities must do a lot of consumer education to bridge that communication gap with the electricity end-users.
What’s the starting point? Laying down the projects and explaining to consumers how will these improve service they will get; as well as explicating the manner of power supply procurements being able to help them trim down their electric bills – will definitely help get their attention.
The challenge for NGCP and all other players in the power industry, however, is toning down the “utility speak” – at least into a language that could be understood by the general public.
‘We are listening’
After the two brownouts on May 8 and July 3 this year which affected large swathe of Luzon including imperial Manila, NGCP came forward and opted to take the lead on explaining matters that appeal high on consumers’ emotions.
In an exclusive and no-holds-barred interview, the top management as well as the company’s technical team unveiled their plans on continually upgrading the country’s power transmission highway and discussed the policy support that they perceive lacking to truly bring the power grid on a par with the world’s best.
They, too, admitted the areas wherein they are still falling short of (like the contracting of ancillary services or reserves); and on the upgrading of protection systems to isolate areas affected by brownouts (er... blackouts, as some jurisdictions would refer it to).
The reigning battle cry of NGCP, as articulated by company President Henry T. Sy Jr. is: “Stronger transmission for a stronger nation.”
He qualified how the company has been trying to address the public’s desire for reliable supply and efficient electricity service; and how the long-aspired for reduction in electricity tariffs will eventually become a reality for the Filipino consumers.
“We in NGCP are listening, and we will continue to listen to you who are more than just our customers, but more importantly, are our partners in development,” Mr. Sy enthused.
We all know that talk is cheap, but the NGCP chief executive is cognizant of the fact that repercussions would be expensive if they will not keep their word on promised system improvements. Depending on how his company will eventually fare – that becomes its ticket to either build trust or destroy relationships with the public it serves.
Albeit for now, Mr. Sy is appealing for public patience while the company rolls out much-needed projects to expand and upgrade the country’s power delivery backbone.
From the assets’ turnover in 2009, Mr. Sy intimated that it’s not an easy task to modernize the country’s power grid. Yet despite the physical hurdles they encounter in project implementations (such as right-of-way dilemmas) as well as the regulatory lags on cost allocations for specific projects, he stressed that much have so far been accomplished in the past four years.
Infrastructure build-up
Mr. Sy laid down that the next round of capital expenditures will still concentrate on upgrading substations (including replacements of antiquated equipment; continuing replacements of the wooden poles into more sturdy steel poles); expansion as well as installation of new transmission corridors and the bigger goal is to finally link Visayas and Mindanao grids via the proposed $500-million Leyte-Mindanao interconnection project or LMIP.
The much-anticipated integration of renewable energy (RE) capacities into the grid is also part of NGCP’s transmission development blueprint, and such is being concretized initially via its proposed “northern looping” of transmission lines.
Mindanao is another area of investment focus for the power utility because of the scheduled commercial commissioning of new power plants in the grid by 2015. Visayas, on the other hand, is bracing for further system upgrades as well as expansion.
Projects across grids
The roll of projects being implemented by NGCP had been intended to address short-, medium- to long-term improvements in the country’s power transmission highway. N-1 contingency or the occurrence of just a single line-loss when trippings happen, is another focus of enhancements being done in various parts of the country’s transmission network.
For North Luzon, Mr. Sy noted that low voltage problems are being addressed, primarily the ones being experienced in Cagayan. Complementing this, he said, “will be a capacity addition in the Tuguegarao substation to accommodate the load increase due to the entry of the new Lal-lo airport and the business developments in Port Irene,” one of northern corridor’s economic zones.
The bigger undertaking in the northern portion of the grid, he stressed, will be the Tuguegarao-Lal-lo and Laoag-Bangui 230 kilovolt (kV) transmission projects “to accommodate the wind power plants and ensure long-term solutions in Cagayan.”
Upgrading projects are also ongoing for South Luzon, primarily for the 230-kV Makban-Kalayaan line to uprate its capacity to 2,400 megavolt ampere (MVA) from 600MVA. This is similarly aligned as “alternate highway for the more than 2,000 megawatts capacity presently being connected to the 230-kV system in the Batangas area.”
Mr. Sy averred once that project is completed, “the Calaca substation will no longer be the single merging node in the area and major grid disturbances affecting the Luzon grid can be averted.”
For Visayas, project lineups are not merely set on system improvements but also on “mitigating the impact of line rental charges on NGCP’s customers.”
According to the company chief executive, the 138-kV Colon-Cebu transmission project is being pursued “to reinforce the Cebu transmission backbone” for the wheeling of capacity from the 246-MW coal plant of Cebu Energy Development Corp.; as well as that of the 200MW coal facility of Kepco-SPC Power Corp. in Naga, Cebu.
The Cebu-Negros-Panay power transmission backbone is another interesting undertaking, with Mr. Sy explaining that such “will provide an additional 240MW to the existing Negros-Panay interconnection”, and it could directly “benefit electric cooperatives in Panay which source power from outside the island.”
Mindanao’s current project focus is the 230-kV Balo-i-Villanueva-Maramag venture which is up for completion this December. This is considered an important backbone because it links the northern and southern Mindanao portions.
The second circuit of the soon-to-be implemented 138-kV Butuan-Placer transmission project is similarly expected “to provide reliable power supply to mining operations in northeastern Mindanao.”
Onward, NGCP is batting for regulatory approvals for the Agus 6 switchyard upgrading and rehabilitation project. As explained, this will connect Agus 6 and 7 hydropower plants to the grid.
Mr. Sy noted that major distribution utilities such as the Lanao del Norte Electric Cooperative (LANECO) and Iligan Light and Power Inc.; as well as key industries like the Mabuhay Vinyl, Treasure Steelworks, Pilmico Foods and Platinum Group Metals will be the project’s direct beneficiaries.
Addressing eventual capacity transmission of the 300-MW Davao coal-fired plant of Therma South Inc. of the Aboitiz group is also in the list of projects lined up for accelerated implementation. This will be via the Toril substation project and the upgrading of the 138-kV Toril-Davao line due for completion in 2015.
On a bigger scale, Mr. Sy emphasized that NGCP has been aspiring for major grid interconnections. Apart from the LMIP commitment, the transmission firm is also looking at connecting Mindoro to the grid via the loop of Batangas interconnection. Once accomplished, he said that this will give Mindoro access to supply directly coming from the grid which in effect could be a more stable as well as cost-competitive compared to its existing off-grid supply source.
For the LMIP project, NGCP special adviser to the president Joseph Ferdinand Dechavez earlier apprised media that a hydrographic survey has to be completed first – prior to the targeted commencement of implementation in 2016 and anticipated completion by 2018. (To be continued) source
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