NGCP backup power deals pending at ERC

February 19, 2025 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) has to wait until March for the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to decide on 19 power reserves procurement deals due to “pending issues.”

But the energy regulator is confident that the delay will not impact the reliability of the country’s power transmission system.

“Given the pending issues that needed to be addressed, the matter has been deferred for further deliberation,” the ERC said, referring to the NGCP’s ancillary services procurement agreements (ASPA) with several generation companies.

In separate applications, the NGCP sought ERC approval to procure reserves from AS providers in line with efforts to maintain stability in the power grid despite supply-demand imbalances.

These AS providers include San Miguel Global Power units Masinloc Power Partners Co. Ltd. and Universal Power Solutions as well as ACEN Corp.’s Subic Power Generation Corp. and Ingrid Power Holdings Inc.

Asked about the deferral, ERC chairperson and CEO Monalisa Dimalanta said the agency still needs more data from its technical team to complete the deliberations on such ASPA applications.

“We do not see the deferral affecting power reliability since we have a good level of reserves also available in the reserve market at this time. We will finalize this early March,” Dimalanta said.

Under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA), AS refers to “services that are necessary to support the transmission of capacity and energy from resources to loads while maintaining reliable operation of the transmission system.”