President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has issued a directive to the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) to solve the power problems in Panay, Guimaras, and Negros islands.
Marcos emphasized the importance of taking steps such as regularly updating relevant personnel on the status of the Visayas grid, establishing the Cebu-Negros-Panay backbone project, and expediting the signing of the Ancillary Service Procurement Agreement.
The Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council is set to convene on May 2 to implement the aforementioned actions.
NGCP has been instructed to maintain transparency and provide regular updates to local officials, distribution utilities, power generators, the Department of Energy (DOE), and the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) on the status of the Visayas grid, the Presidential Communications Office said in a statement it released today, May 2.
It added that the president has directed NGCP to synchronize the protection relays of transmission, generation, and distribution in the next two weeks to avoid massive blackouts.
NGCP was also instructed to immediately complete the third stage of the Cebu-Negros-Panay backbone project (CNP3), which involves linking Negros and Cebu by laying an overhead line from Bacolod City to San Carlos City and then to Toledo City, Cebu through a submarine cable.
A directive was also issued to NGCP to review the reliability of each Visayas sub-grid and fast-track the signing of the Ancillary Service Procurement Agreement (ASPA) with the ERC to manage power fluctuations.
The president hopes that these actions will help to alleviate the power problems in the affected areas and ensure a stable power supply for the Visayas region.
