NGCP failed to send out crucial updates before Panay grid failure, officials say

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 11) The House Committee on Energy on Thursday wants the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) to explain why it was not able to send out its usual updates to other energy agencies hours before the Jan. 2 blackout in Western Visayas.

“On Jan. 2, at 12:06, there was no significant incident notice issued and no reports to the Department of Energy which usually receives reports every 30 minutes every day,” Iloilo Rep. Lorenz Defensor said.

The automated 30-minute status and incident updates are sent through the Viber messaging app. It was revealed that reports were sent out at 9:30 a.m. and 10 a.m. on Jan. 2, but stopped afterwards.

“Can NGCP tell us why there was no significant incident notice and no reports from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the afternoon on Jan. 2 at 12:06 p.m.?” Defensor asked.

NGCP National System Operations Head Clark Agustin said the agency was also looking into why the automated Viber updates were not sent. However, he clarified that SMS updates were sent out when the plant tripped.

“For the significant incident report, we have a criteria in the PGC (Philippine Grid Code). Based on PGC, a significant report is comprised of multiple tripping of generator with ALD (automatic load dropping). Yung case ko kasi na ito [in this case it was] tripping of single generator without ALD,” Agustin said.

Defensor also asked the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) about the results of its investigation into the April 2023 Panay power outage.

“We facilitated the discussion with the NGCP because all of the recommendations required actions of NGCP, including coordination with the generating plants, several simulations that were required of the NGCP for several scenarios,” ERC chairperson Monalisa Dimalanta said.

“As of the November report of NGCP, they indicated all of these measures, almost all – I think only one remained – as completed,” she added.

Despite the NGCP’s supposed compliance, energy officials agreed that the NGCP failed to coordinate with stakeholders and energy officials before the Jan. 2 grid failure which resulted in a major power outage in large swaths of Western Visayas.

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