National Grid Corp. of the Philippines said Tuesday it found no fault in the company’s Bacolod-Silay 69-kiloVolt line segment, and its protection system functioned as intended during the April 27 to April 29 power outage that hit the Visayas grid.
NGCP said this was despite the fact that the April disturbance was identified at the Bacolod-Silay line which is co-owned by the company with Central Negros Electric Cooperative Inc.
The company issued the clarification on the events which led to the series of outages in Negros and Panay in April at the House Committee on Energy hearing on Aug. 15.
NGCP said Palm Concepcion Power Corp., with estimated generation load of 135 megawatts, tripped 1.3 seconds after fault clearing.
“The resulting undervoltage and under-frequency were severe and unrecoverable, directly causing the tripping of other power plants, and ultimately, the Panay sub-grid collapse,” NGCP said.
It said the subsequent tripping that occurred on April 28 and April 29 were a direct result of the avoidable events of April 27.
NGCP said other contributing factors that made it difficult for the Panay sub-grid to immediately recover from the April 27 event included unplanned outages and deration of other plants, insufficient non-variable energy sources and unique configuration of the Negros-Panay sub-grid and the delay in completion of the Cebu-Negros-Panay 230kV Backbone project.
The company said incidents like these might be caused by many factors and not only a single energy industry player.
“The energy sector is an interconnected system among generators, the transmission network, and distribution utilities or electric cooperatives. We have long advocated that a holistic approach to power planning, particularly proper, mindful, and responsible generation and transmission planning, are key to a stable grid. Basic principles such as individual island self-sufficiency, decreased inter-island interdependency, and transmission redundancies must be considered. Improvements must be made on the entire system,” NGCP said.
NGCP thanked the House Committee on Energy for the opportunity to explain the results of its investigation on the outages in Panay and Negros, as it assured stakeholders of its continuing commitment to improving the power transmission grid.
The company said it already identified several solutions involving all sectors of the energy industry, including clearance of line obstructions, review of generator settings, improvement in generation planning, enhancement of information dissemination, effective use of emerging technologies, acceleration of grid reinforcement projects and review of the grid code.
“NGCP is grateful that the committee recognized that all sectors of the industry must be involved to create a lasting solution. We continue to look for opportunities for improvement, for broader solutions to long standing energy issues, as we coordinate with other energy players for a synchronized plan of action,” it said.
“For its part, NGCP is also committed to expedite transmission side solutions, including the completion of the Cebu-Negros-Panay 230kV Backbone Project,” the company said.