NGCP seeks regulatory support for renewable energy grid integration

MANILA  -The country’s lone grid operator on Monday urged the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) and the Department of Energy (DOE) to revisit policies to accelerate the expansion of transmission lines and ensure that the power grid would be capable of integrating high levels of variable renewable energy (RE).

National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) said that while its partnership with State Grid Corp. of China made sure that it was “more than capable” of accommodating the increasing integration of renewable energy into the grid, it needed the support of the ERC in utilizing capital expenditures (capex) to fund transmission projects.

“External limitations, including regulatory caps on capital expenditures, protracted permitting processes by the local government units, and difficult rights-of-way procurement, have proven to be the primary roadblocks to project completion,” NGCP said in a statement.

Capital outlays

Last year, NGCP announced that it would allot P160 billion in capex for the development of upcoming and ongoing transmission projects. This was filed with the ERC for the fifth regulatory period (2021 to 2025).

NGCP to spend P160B to improve PH power grid

The DOE pointed out, however, that the filing did not include transmission projects to support offshore wind developments.

The ERC has yet to respond to requests for comment.

As the private sector shows growing interest in developing clean energy facilities to help reach the DOE’s energy transition goals, the NGCP noted that it needed both policy and infrastructure support to strengthen the transmission system.

Variable renewable energy sources are clean energy technologies that produce supply intermittently and are dependent on weather conditions, such as wind and solar farms.

The DOE has so far awarded at least 63 wind contracts with a potential capacity of 49.93 gigawatts (GW), and 237 solar contracts with a potential capacity of 21.45 GW.

Modernization needed

At the height of Congressional hearings on its performance earlier this year, the NGCP pointed out that the influx of variable technologies would need “a lot of upgrades” from the grid.

International energy policy group Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities likewise said that the entry of renewables in the Philippines must be coupled with grid modernization to help achieve affordable, reliable and secure power.

In May, NGCP said it had so far invested P300 billion in the improvement of the state-owned power grid since winning the bid for its operations and management in 2009.

P300B invested in power transmission system, says NGCP

This came after senators raised concerns over its performance due to prolonged outages in the power-hungry Luzon grid.

While it admitted to delays in the completion of crucial transmission projects that could have prevented the widespread blackouts, NGCP pointed out that it was able to complete the Hermosa-San Jose 500-kilovolt transmission line in Bataan province and the P52-billion Mindanao-Visayas Interconnection Project this year.

-CSN