Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said the Senate should conduct an inquiry into the series of disturbances in the country’s power transmission system saying it is imperative to ensure the Philippines has a reliable and continuous supply of electricity.
Gatchalian, vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy, has filed Senate Resolution No. 607, asking the Upper Chamber to call for an inquiry into the series of power outages that hit various parts of the country.
“These successive transmission system disturbances caused inconvenience to communities and losses to businesses,” the senator said.
“The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) as the operator of the transmission system in the country should be held to account for the root cause of these disturbances,” he added.
Gatchalian recalled that on May 8, the NGCP reported red and yellow alerts in the Luzon grid due to a tripping of the Bolo-Masinloc 230kV Line 2, leading to the tripping of 2 units of the Masinloc Coal Power Plant which, in turn, caused power loss of 659 megawatts (MW) in the Luzon grid.
The tripping brought power interruptions in the franchise areas of various distribution facilities across Luzon island. In the Meralco franchise, in particular, more than 300,000 customers in Paco and Sta. Mesa in Manila, Caloocan, Malabon, Batangas, Antipolo in Rizal, San Pedro and Biñan in Laguna, and San Rafael and Pulilan in Bulacan were affected.
The next day, May 9, Meralco reported power supply cuts due to a temporary system imbalance caused by a sudden plant outage.
The distribution utility (DU) company said it was caused by an automatic load dropping (ALD) of approximately 290 MW, as a result of the tripping of the Duhat-Hermosa 290kV line.
The senator also lamented the April 27 system disturbance that occurred in the Visayas grid.
The matter caused a loss of 322.3 MW and power interruptions that persisted until April 30 and lasting up to 12 hours in the islands of Panay, Guimaras, and Negros, affecting over 1.5 million households.
Under Section 3 of Republic Act No.9511, the lawmaker reiterated that the NGCP is mandated to operate and maintain the transmission system, grid, and related facilities at all times in accordance with industry standards.