By
Lenie Lectura- May 10, 2019
THE National Grid Corp.
of the Philippines (NGCP) said on Thursday it will activate the 24/7 operations
of its Overall Command Center (OCC) starting May 10 until May 16 as part of its
preparations to secure power transmission operations and facilities for
Monday’s midterm elections.
The grid operator has
also put in place contingency plans to monitor and quickly address any grid
disturbance.
May 13 has been
declared a special nonworking day, but NGCP’s critical units, such as System
Operations (SO) and Operations and Maintenance (O&M), remain fully staffed
and operational. Line crews, engineers, pilots, maintenance and testing, and
other technical personnel are also strategically positioned in NGCP substations
to respond to line trippings, should these occur.
“NGCP’s Integrated
Disaster Action Plan prescribes these and other measures to ensure the
readiness of all power-transmission facilities to be affected by emergencies or
important national events. With its security and contingency preparations set,
NGCP can ensure reliable power- transmission services before, during and after
the election date,” it said.
The OCC will monitor
grid disturbances and the overall power situation per directive of NGCP’s Power
Task Force Election (PTFE), a special team formed to ensure the security and
reliability of the transmission network across the country during the
elections. As early as March this year, the PTFE already set out with various
activities in preparation for the coming election season.
NGCP is a Filipino-led,
privately owned company in charge of operating, maintaining, and developing the
country’s power grid, led by majority shareholders Henry Sy Jr. and
Robert Coyiuto Jr.
Meanwhile, the Manila
Electric Company (Meralco) said it has more than 150 generator sets
on standby on election day.
These generator sets
intend to provide basic lighting to polling and canvassing places in case of
unexpected power interruptions. Around 300 floodlights will also be
ready for deployment and use in case of emergencies, but Meralco also advises
polling centers to bring backup lights, as well as extra precautions.
On May 13, Meralco will
have on duty 300 responding crews, who will be working 24/7 to ensure
that Meralco is prepared to respond to any eventualities.
Meralco announced that
it has finished its inspection of polling and canvassing centers within its
franchise area, and has made the necessary recommendations to the respective
school and building administrators to address potential problems.
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