All hands on deck vs election brownouts

ILOILO City – Today, Election Day, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) and various power distributors are on alert to ensure there won’t be power interruptions as millions of voters cast their ballots.

NGCP is in charge of operating, maintaining, and developing the country’s power grid through which the electricity of the power distributors pass.

It has activated the 24/7 operations of its Overall Command Center (May 8 to 10) to secure power transmission operations and facilities.

As early as February, NGCP’s Power Task Force Elections (PTFE), a special team formed to ensure the security and reliability of the transmission network across the country during the elections, already set out with preparatory activities.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, this includes coordination with the Commission on Elections ( Comelec) and other government agencies on new directives on the activation of their respective contingency plans.

NGCP’s own contingency plans are in place to monitor and immediately address any grid disturbance. With the help of Comelec and in coordination with t he Armed Forces of t he Philippines and the Philippine National Police, it has been conducting clearing

operations on overgrown vegetation along critical transmission lines. NGCP sought the assistance of these agencies especially for hard to reach areas and areas with security concerns.

In Iloilo City, the preparations of MORE Electric and Power Corporation ( MORE Power) started early l ast month. According to Engineer Bailey Del Castillo, MORE Power’s deputy head of Network Operations, they have two stages of preparations – the pre-election preparations done completely and on Election Day which is the deployment of their response teams.

Del Castillo said MORE Power teams have inspected voting centers. Among others, they did thermal scanning and inspected if there were loose connections and hotspots, and corrections were made based on their findings.

Today, they have response teams in every district, particularly near polling centers.

“Ang challenge lang talaga, and we want the public to be aware of this, are the kites flying. Everyday may mga tinatanggal na burador entangled sa wires which can cause disturbance in our system,” said Del Castillo.

Del Castillo said MORE Power will also be “closely monitoring the data canvassing centers, the Jubilee Hall in Iloilo City and the Iloilo provincial capitol for Iloilo province.

“Our line response teams will be stationed in these two locations,” he said.

Meanwhile, NGCP said it will issue advisories on the power situation every four hours, which may vary depending on the situation on the ground.

Despite the declaration of May 9 as a special non-working day, NGCP’s critical units, particularly System Operations ( SO) and Operations and Maintenance (O&M), will remain fully staffed and operational.

Line crews, engineers, pilots, maintenance and testing, and other technical personnel are also strategically positioned in substations to respond to line trippings, if any.

Administrative and other support teams will also remain on duty.

Personnel manning i ts Regional and Area Control Centers, critical substations, and the quick response team will be on 24-hour shifts, with twice the number of personnel on duty.

“Our Integrated Disaster Action Plan prescribes these and other measures to ensure the readiness of all power transmission facilities to be affected by emergencies during important national events. With its security and contingency preparations set, NGCP can ensure reliable power transmission services before, during, and after the election date,” according to the company in a statement./