NGCP dispels fears over thinning power reserves

By Lenie Lectura - January 17, 2018

https://businessmirror.com.ph/ngcp-dispels-fears-over-thinning-power-reserves/

THE National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP)  on Wednesday said the country is assured of  sufficient power reserves despite the probability of power outages as raised by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) chief.

“We have sufficient reserve based on capacity,” NGCP Systems Operations Manager Erwin Bugawisan said during a briefing held at the NGCP Command Control Center.

NGCP presented its 2018 all-time peak outlook. For Luzon, peak demand is expected to hit 10,561 megawatts (MW) in May. In the Visayas and Mindanao, the forecast could reach 2,143 MW and 2,064 MW, respectively, to occur sometime in November and December.

There was no data presented as to the respective power supply and reserves anticipated for Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao. Still, the NGCP official said Luzon and  the Visayas
are assured of sufficient reserves, mainly due to the new power plants scheduled to come on stream.

In Mindanao, meanwhile, Buga-wisan noted that “we have so much capacity.” When pressed for details, Bugawisan said Luzon’s “thinnest “ power reserve is expected to reach 1,432 MW. In the Visayas, “the thinnest is 400 MW,” while in Mindanao, “it’s 1,133 MW.”

Further, the NGCP said the total Luzon power supply is expected to face constraints in April, due to expected rise in demand brought about by rising temperatures.

NGCP’s forecast, according to its spokesman, lawyer Cynthia Alabanza, was mainly based on DOE (Department of Energy) data, committed capacity from new  power plants and scheduled maintenance shutdown of existing power plants .

Based on these, Alabanza said “there’s no outage” expected because there is enough supply. However, barring unforeseen circumstances, the NGCP could not guarantee that there won’t be any blackout incidents.

“A lot of factors that can’t be determined this early, such as La Niña. The new plants coming on line may be delayed or on time. So, there’s a lot of factors considered throughout the year. But now, we see no problem,” she added when asked to comment on ERC Chairman Agnes Devanadera’s comment on Tuesday.

According to Devanadera, there is a need to beef up the reserves to avert incidents of power outage. Power producers need the green light of the ERC before they can proceed with their power projects. But, since four ERC commissioners were suspended for a year, the agency could not act on critical applications.

Devanadera said 43 new certificates of commerciality (COC) equivalent to 2,977.89 MW renewal of 47 expired COCs worth 1,971.49 MW and 29 expired power-supply agreements (PSAs) that cover 544 MW in supply are awaiting ERC approval. The Philippine Independent Power Producers Association Inc., meanwhile, said that, without a working commission and putting a pause on the important work of the ERC, “we will find ourselves without the needed approvals for PSAs, connection agreements, price determination regulation, compliance certificates and licenses.”

“These are all dependent on the ERC and will negatively impact everyone—from the generators, distribution utilities and, ultimately, the consumers. As such, we cannot afford any delay on these activities, as it will be detrimental to, not only the industry but to each and every consumer who relies on energy security.”

The DOE has already asked Malacañang to designate acting commissioners so the ERC can continue its functions. “We wish to assure all stakeholders that the suspension will not cause any debilitating effect to the power supply and services in the Philippines. The suspension may cause further delays in power projects, which require approval from a collegial commission. However, we will see to it that this will not have any significant impact in the short and medium term. The execution of the Power Development Plan covering the medium and long term up to 2040 will continue unhindered,” Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi said.