NGCP to bid out AS contracts

National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) on Wednesday announced it would start a competitive bidding process for contracts to provide ancillary services (AS).

This develops after the Senate energy committee led by Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian said NGCP should comply to a Department of Energy policy that required NGCP to engage AS suppliers with “firm contracts.”

AS refers to support services—or reserve power generation capacity—needed to maintain power quality, reliability and security of the grid.

NGCP said it had a “healthy mix” of firm and “nonfirm” contracts for its AS needs.With firm contracts, power suppliers are committed to deliver on demand of the buyer such as NGCP.

“We want to guarantee the best pricing for AS, since this is a pass-on cost to consumers, ” NGCP president Anthony Almeda said. —Ronnel W. Domingo INQ