Power for midterm elections assured

Manila Times.net

Written by Madelaine B. Miraflor  Published on 26 January 2013

The Sy-led National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) said on Friday that it will secure the country’s power grid for the upcoming 2013 elections by creating its own task force.

NGCP said that it has formed a special task force which will be responsible for the stable transmission of electricity, and creation of contingency plans and measures during the election.

According to NGCP spokesman, lawyer Cynthia Alabanza, the task force will start its operation as early as February and will work from May 10 to 17. The casting of votes is on May 13.

“NGCP creates a task force every election season to guarantee uninterrupted power transmission, and this election will be no different,” she said.

Alabanza added that part of the task force’s mandate is to secure the lines and substations from any threats, to avoid unplanned outages.

“Of course, NGCP can only guarantee that there will be no transmission related interruptions. Any power interruption caused by other factors, such as generation deficiencies, or those pertaining to distribution utility operations, are beyond our control,” she further said.

As part of its preparations, NGCP will defer its regular maintenance activities one week before and one week after the election, to make all the transmission assets available for power delivery.

“We will make sure that power delivery is excellent and transmission lines and equipment are at their best, to ensure that we have electricity for the voting machines,” Alabanza said.

Earlier this month, the Department of Energy (DOE) created a Power Task Force intended to secure the country’s power supply for the mid-term elections. Together with other energy agencies, NGCP is a member of the DOE task force.

“NGCP’s task force is aligned with the Power Task Force created by DOE. We shall be in constant coordination with them and with other agencies in the power industry, to ensure that we have a power interruption free election this year,” said Alabanza.   source