The Philippine Independent Power Producers Association Inc. (PIPPA), an organization of the country’s energy generation companies (GenCos), has been prodding for the contracting of sufficient power reserves to guarantee reliability of power, especially during the election period.

The appeal of the GenCos had been directed to system operator National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), the entity managing and operating the country’s power transmission facilities.

“We reiterate our request for the System Operator to have sufficient contracted ancillary reserves because this is necessary to support the transmission capacity and energy from resources to loads as mandated by the Department of Energy,” PIPPA stipulated.

Apart from reinforced reserves contracting, the group said that congestion in the transmission of power plants’ capacities as well as accelerating grid interconnections must also be sorted with dispatch by the system operator.

“The supply and demand shocks expected this summer can be alleviated by greater interconnection of different power production areas to demand centers. By having more sufficient capacity transmission lines and assets, we will be able to unlock the potential of exporting and importing power amongst the different islands and ensure that our country achieves its developmental goals economically,” it stressed.

PIPPA highlighted the more than 1,000 megawatts of stranded capacity in Luzon (i.e. in Bataan and Pagbilao) due to transmission lines limitations.

On the targeted completion of the Mindanao-Visayas Interconnection Project (MVIP), the group emphasized that the surplus capacity in Mindanao could be rechanneled to the other two main grids if supply tightening predicaments would come forth.

“Mindanao is forecasted this summer to have a power supply surplus of more than 1,000MW, however, it is unable to export this to Visayas and Luzon since the Mindanao grid is not yet connected to the rest of the country,” PIPPA noted.

There are also "hundreds of megawatts of stranded capacity in Cebu, Negros and Panay, mostly from renewable energy sources, which could be put to good use if the transmission lines are fully operational.”

Additionally, the GenCos called on the distribution utilities (DUs) to activate their interruptible load program (ILP), so they can call on their customers with self-generating units to switch on these during sudden thinning or strained supply in the grid.

“In these times, the ILP plays an important role in supporting our energy sufficiency system and PIPPA thanks the active participation of distribution utilities like Meralco (Manila Electric Company) and large power customers in ensuring that the ILP is a success,” the group said.

PIPPA opined “this demand-side management program can reduce electricity drawn from the grid and help avert power interruptions when grid power reserves are most critical.”