NGCP power lines (File photo from the Philippine Daily Inquirer)
MANILA, Philippines 鈥� The (Pippa), an organization of the country鈥檚 energy generation companies, on Wednesday welcomed President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.鈥檚 disclosure in his State of the Nation Address (Sona) last Monday that the government will conduct a performance review of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP).
In a statement, Pippa said it 鈥渓ook[s] forward to working with NGCP as a critical partner not only of the generation sector, but together with the distribution sector, for the achievement of a truly unified grid that will be adequate, open, responsive and nondiscriminatory.鈥�
In his Sona, the President said the country already has a 鈥渦nified national grid,鈥� with the interconnection of the Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao grids, thus enabling more efficient transfers and more competitive pricing of electricity throughout the country.
However, Marcos noted that there are 68 grid connections that are 鈥渕uch delayed鈥� based on the count of the Energy Regulatory Commission.
鈥淲e are conducting a performance review of our private concessionaire, the NGCP. We look to NGCP to complete all of its deliverables, starting with the vital Mindanao-Visayas and the Cebu-Negros-Panay interconnections,鈥� he said.
Promoting renewables
Pippa also supported the President鈥檚 declaration that with the unified grid, the government will now spare no effort to achieve full household-electrification by the end of his term.
The group acknowledged efforts of the Department of Energy 鈥渢hat have unlocked some bottlenecks, thus making it possible to not only have new power plants, but more significantly, 126 renewable energy contracts with a potential total capacity of 31,000 megawatts.鈥�
The President in his Sona stressed that 鈥渞enewable energy is the way forward,鈥� noting that his administration is 鈥渁ggressively promoting renewables鈥� in order for it to provide a 鈥�35 percent share in the power mix by 2030, and then on to 50 percent by 2040.鈥�