NGCP says grid performance better under its watch

The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) on Wednesday said the overall performance of the country's power grid system improved under its watch.

In a statement, the NGCP said the grid's performance since it took over in 2009 until 2022 was "significantly better" compared to when the grid was run by the government from 2000 to 2008.

In particular, the private grid operator said that the Frequency of Tripping (FOT), which measures the number of times high-voltage transmission lines tripped or experienced forced outages for every 100 circuit kilometers, declined across all three major island grids.

In Luzon, the NGCP said the average FOT has gone down from 6.4732 in 2000 to 2008 to 1.3386 in 2009 to 2022.

In the Visayas, the average FOT declined to 0.9508 (2009 to 2022) from 6.6530 (2000 to 2008); while in Mindanao, it decreased to 1.3285 from 8.0788.

The NGCP was subjected to the Senate's grilling as the upper chamber probes into its operations amid the series of power interruptions.

The grid operator added that it also improved its capability to mitigate the impact of power interruptions to overall grid operations —which are measured by the System Availability (SA) indicator and System Interruption Severity Index (SISI).

It said that the SA for Luzon is at 99.3160%, the Visayas at 99.6538%, and Mindanao at 99.7206%.

For the SISI, Luzon only averaged 10.7236 system minutes of interruptions in 2009-2022 compared to 13.8978 from 2000-2008; in the Visayas, 47.3318 system minutes of interruption during NGCP time from an average of 176.3350 system minutes pre-privatization; and 9.124 system minutes from 10.434 in Mindanao, according to the NGCP.

"These indicators are the most tangible proof of our performance felt by end-users. Our improved numbers are attributed to the continuous upgrading and expansion projects such as wood pole replacement, substation additions, capacitor bank projects, and new transmission lines, effectively reinforcing the stability and reliability of the grid," it said.

"Since NGCP took over transmission operations in 2009, we performed over and above our targets year-on-year. This is a result of the company's commitment to deliver on our mandate to provide quality transmission services. We assure our stakeholders that NGCP's ongoing projects and programs seek only to further improve our services," the company added.

The NGCP said its performance indicator ratings are the basis of its incentives, as indicated in the Performance Incentive Scheme (PIS) which is reviewed and approved every regulatory period by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC). — RSJ, GMA Integrated News