Energy department acts to prevent more rotating brownouts

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MONDAY, 10 JANUARY 2011 20:48 PAUL ANTHONY ISLA
 / REPORTER



TO help prevent rotating brownouts, the Department of Energy (DOE) will play an active role in monitoring the declared generating capacities of power producers, Energy Undersecretary Josefina Patricia Asirit said.

In an interview, the DOE official said Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras met recently with officials of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) to discuss its Transmission Development Plan (TDP)—an integral part in ensuring the security of energy supply.

Asirit said the meeting aimed to ensure the TDP’s capability to establish the priority programs and projects of NGCP.

Almendras pointed out the need for the entire industry to work together to rationalize the available generating capacity, Asirit said.

She also said Almendras made it clear with the NGCP that the rated and dependable capacity does not in itself ensure the supply of energy.

“We have to check the numbers and see where the gaps are in term of the nominated and dispatched capacities are coming from. We need to reconcile figures and find out why or where is there a difference in our figures,” Asirit said. She cited, for instance, the need to determine where the difference is between the nominated capacity and the dependable capacity.

Asirit said they would check with each generating companies if they complied with the grid operation and management program.

Asirit also said the DOE also had to make sure that NGCP’s lines have the sufficient capacity to carry the load required by the demand of a certain area.