The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) defended itself against claims of failing to stabilize the transmission system in Panay Island, stating that it followed the necessary protocols. 

In a statement on Friday, Jan. 5, NGCP said the company solely provides transmission services and bears no responsibility for power generation.

The transmission concessionaire further clarified that it did not detect any problem before the tripping incident at the Panay Energy Development Corp. (PEDC) Unit 1 on Jan. 2, which has a capacity of approximately 83 megawatts.

“[After this event,] we were able to recover the transmission system and normalize the voltage,” NGCP said.

The company also said that the NGCP system data did not detect any abnormality until several power plants unexpectedly tripped later that same afternoon. 

The company emphasized that it also followed protocols and took all necessary actions.

Following this, the transmission firm called out policymakers and critics regarding the allegations against NGCP.

NGCP reassured that the company able to be transparent in updating the public of the power issue in various social platforms and media.

“We firmly refute allegations suggesting that we failed in its obligation to stabilize the transmission system,” it said.

NGCP added that the current power outage should not be used for personal or political gain, but instead should lead to a collective industry-wide effort to resolve the unexpected blackout.

“Rather than using NGCP as a scapegoat, we urge policymakers to be objective in their search for facts and not coddle certain sectors,” the NGCP expressed.

Meanwhile, the Department of Energy (DOE) reminded the firm of the Transmission Development Plan (TDP) that was developed together with the public and private industry stakeholders.

The TDP outlines necessary expansion and modernization projects for the transmission systems in order to have a more reliable delivery of power throughout the country.

This also complements the capacity additions from renewable energy (RE) and ther porjected load growth and generation upgrades.

Because of this, Energy Assistant Secretary Mario Marasigan recalled that the power disturbance could have been avoided if they completed a major project of the TDP on time.

“[The outage] could have been prevented had the NGCP completed on time the 230 kilovolt [kV] Cebu-Negros-Panay Backbone project,” he elaborated.

The Energy Regulatory Commission also reported 37 delayed transmission projects in July last year, and that they failed to meet its proposed timelines to complete the projects.

Subsequently, the DOE also required a Grid Operating and Maintenance Program (GOMP) for the NGCP to secure available power while there is a need to work and improve the power plants.

“The NGCP failed to show clear indication that it had prudently exercised its authority to balance supply and demand in the Panay Grid,” Marasigan expressed. 

“While they claim that multiple outages of power plants caused the blackout, the tripping of PEDC 1 already signaled the need to take action, which they failed to do, given the fragile nature of Panay.”