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Manila Bulletin devider Business devider Power industry veteran designated new TransCo president

Power industry veteran designated new TransCo president

Published Nov 15, 2023 07:39 am

At A Glance

  • <img src="https://images.mb.com.ph/production/mb-mkt-neo-prod-1-uploads-2/media/Newly_designated_Trans_Co_President_Fortunato_Leynes_8231ade91a/Newly_designated_Trans_Co_President_Fortunato_Leynes_8231ade91a.jpg" alt="Newly designated TransCo President Fortunato Leynes.jpg">
  • Newly designated TransCo President and CEO Fortunato C. Leynes

Famed for gaining his expertise and solid experience as a power industry veteran and former executive of the country’s biggest power distribution utility Manila Electric Company, Engineer Fortunato “Atoy” C. Leynes has been designated under the Marcos administration as the new President and CEO of state-run National Transmission Corporation (TransCo) via an election process carried out by its board.

In assuming the company’s top post, Leynes cited the confidence and trust that Energy Secretary Raphael P.M. Lotilla and the TransCo Board had bestowed on him, while promising that he will reciprocate that by “bringing TransCo to new heights with the best of my ability."

He narrated that “when the job was offered to me, it was for the nation. It is really for the good and welfare of the electric power industry and, eventually, the whole country as well.”

While Leynes may not exactly come as a savior of an already-messy and politically charged industry, the new TransCo president is hoping that he can pitch in valuable contribution that could help improve the restructured power sector.

TransCo is the duly sanctioned owner of the country’s power transmission facilities – of which operation and management is currently under a 25-year concession arrangement with private firm National Grid Corporation of the Philippines.

The state-run firm is also performing a critical role in managing the trust fund being utilized to compensate and incentivize the qualified renewable energy (RE) developers – primarily those that had been granted with feed-in-tariff (FIT) incentives as well as the long-term power supply agreements (PSAs) awarded via the Green Energy Auction (GEA) program being administered by the Department of Energy.

Another prospective role that TransCo will be taking on would be the planned ‘parallel grid’ or the “Smart and Green Grid System” that the DOE has been advancing to support easier integration of renewable energy (RE) projects into the grid.

In concretizing plans that had been cast for TransCo, Leynes is banking on his more than 40 years of “extensive experience in all facets of the power industry — including generation, transmission, distribution, and supply—as well as in the academe.”

In a statement to the media, TransCo noted that Leynes “has been recognized for his outstanding contributions to the energy sector, having received awards and accolades, both locally and internationally.”

Bestowed on him as major recognition and honors had been the Outstanding Electrical Engineer of the Philippines award in 2014 by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC), the Excellence Award for Publication and Rating from Nigeria, and the 2018 Thomasian Engineer Hall of Fame Award from his alma mater University of Santo Tomas (UST).

His affiliations include stint as a faculty member of the UST, Mapua Institute of Technology, Far Eastern University (FEU), and the Meralco Power Academy.

Leynes will be taking the role from an exceptional woman in the power sector – Dinna Dizon, who had been officer-in-charge of TransCo and vice president of the Transmission Management Group at the time that top leadership at the company had not been filled in yet. 

 

Related Tags

National Transmission Corp. Department of Energy feed-in-tariff renewable energy power grid
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