By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

Local group Power Watch Negros (PWN) said the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) should have enhanced electric supply management, following power outages that hit some parts of Negros and Panay islands last Friday night, March 1.

In a radio interview over the weekend, PWN lead convenor Wennie Sancho strongly emphasized the notable alleged deficiencies in NGCP’s operations.

Sancho reminded the NGCP that they are required to maintain at least four percent spinning or standby reserve from the total power supply to cover shortages in electric supply in case of a power interruption.

He said that even though the Department of Energy has called for preparations for ancillary services for two years, the NGCP has yet to take action.

Sancho acknowledged the challenges of reserving electricity as a real-time product.

However, he pointed out the importance of having generation plants or distribution utilities with spinning reserves to address capacity shortages.

Sancho said that one of the reasons why the NGCP could not accommodate the needed power supply is because of the ongoing Cebu-Negros-Panay Interconnection Project.

On Friday night, a blackout hit Bacolod City and Negros Occidental, as the NGCP monitored an unplanned shutdown of Panay Energy Development Corporation’s three units based in Iloilo, with a combined 316-megawatt capacity, following the tripping of the rest of the power plants in Panay.

As the power grid operator, NGCP said they have managed the transmission highway and already balanced the available power supply and demand./DGB, WDJ