NGCP defends response to Panay outage, cites ERC rules

NGCP OFFICIALS FACE PROBE: National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) officials face investigation Wednesday, January 10, 2024, during the Senate committee on energy probe into the massive brownouts that hit Panay Island last January 2, 2024. Clark Agustin, assistant vice president and head of the National System Operations, explained their side on the incident. Senate PRIB photo

MANILA, Philippines — When the major power plants on Panay Island switched off,  the transmission system remained normal and stable during the first two-hours of the power outage on January 2.

This situation prevented the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) to take “manual corrective actions” in accordance with the rules, its official said during the hearing of the Senate committee on energy.

“After the tripping of PEDC (Panay Energy Development Corporation), the system remains stable. Normal po yung system, stable sya,” Clark Agustin, head of  NGCP’s national system operations, said.

“Voltage and frequency are within normal limits…Wala tayong transmission line na overloaded…” he went on.

This baffled Senator Raffy Tulfo, chairman of the committee.

“Pano mo masabing normal at stable e nag trip na nga?” Tulfo asked, “Kung nag trip  so ibig sabihin, hindi stable.”

(How can you say it’s normal and stable when the power plants already tripped? If they tripped,  it means it’s not stable.)

Agustin explained that the stability of the grid refers to its “ability to recover after an event or disturbance.”

Still, Tulfo said, NGCP could have done something  during a two-hour window period — from the time  PEDC 1 went off at 12:06 pm on January 2 before  six more power plants switched off  at  2:10pm on the same day.

“Between 12:06 p.m.  to 2:19 p.m,  may  two hours window yun. You could have done something to address the problem but you did not. Bakit?”  the senator asked.

Agustin reiterated that during the two-hour period,  the system was  stable  as voltage  and frequency  remained within  “normal limits.”

“And on top of that po, si PGC (Philippine Grid Code) does not allow us to impose manual corrective actions in anticipation of a secondary contingency,” he said.

“The Philippine Grid Code says that we should not impose manual corrective actions in anticipation of a secondary contingency  during normal conditions,” he added.

Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero later clarified in the hearing that the PGC is not a law but the rules set by the Energy Regulatory Commission.

Also at the start of the hearing, Escudero reiterated that NGCP was not solely to blame for the recent power outage.

“Madaling ituro at ibaling ang sisi sa pinakamalaki sa kwarto, ika nga at yan ay ang NGCP Subalit kung wala naman silang kuryente na ihahatid, wala namang made-deliver sa distribution utility din,” Escudero pointed  out.

(It’s easy to point fingers at the biggest one in the room, as they say, and that’s the NGCP. However, if they don’t have electricity to deliver, nothing will be delivered to the distribution utility either.)

The senator likewise believes that the system operator is not allowed to make any interventions if the factors provided under the PGC such as  voltage and frequency remain within range.

“The same is true for the power plant,” he said, “Hindi pwedeng mag-manual  shutdown and unscheduled shutdown  ang planta, ng decision lang nya. Dapat pinagbibigay alam at sumusunod pa rin sa National Grid Code…”

(The plants cannot undergo a manual shutdown or unscheduled shutdown just based on their own decision. It should be communicated and still  in accordance with the National Grid Code…)