Recurrent power plant outages to be penalized
By Myrna M. Velasco – June 7, 2020, 10:00 PM
from Manila Bulletin
Power plants that encounter perennial forced outages shall be meted with penalties based on a new performance assessment and audit being pushed by the Department of Energy.
In the audit of the power industry, the energy department proposed in a draft circular that fines and penalties shall be imposed upon players who will be determined not complying with the rules as well as reliability and quality standards of operations of power facilities; and if they fail to rectify recommended improvement in their operations within specified timeframes.
It is the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) that shall administer the audit for the power generation companies, the transmission company as well as private distribution utilities. It has to be aided by a third party consultant in carrying out this task.
“The ERC may commission the conduct of performance assessment and audit through an independent accredited auditor,” the DOE-framed policy has stated; but it qualified that in the engagement of a consultant, the regulatory agency must adopt accreditation rules.
In the case of the electric cooperatives, performance assessment and audit shall be undertaken by the National Electrification Administration (NEA), which is the agency exercising oversight over the ECs’ operations.
Among the key parameters that shall be scrutinized by the ERC in the audit process would be: multiple transmission facility tripping; generation plant tripping resulting to automatic load dropping which then induces brownout conditions; the instances of yellow and red alert status declarations; loss of large load resulting in higher frequency at more than 61 hertz; islanding operation; partial or total system blackout; as well as tripping in transmission and distribution facilities.
The audit process must also verify “recurring complaints by electricity consumers on the services and operations of an electric power industry participant.”
And on the whole, the ERC and NEA audits must be able to assess the incidents and threats to the overall security of the country’s electricity system.
The frequency of audits shall be every fives years for generation companies and for transmission firm National Grid Corporation of the Philippines; and every four years for the distribution utilities – to include the electric cooperatives.
For ERC, in particular, the propounded rules stipulated that it shall “cover parameters and standards that are vital to the operations of the participants and have impact on power systems/facilities and consumers.”
The result of the performance assessment and audit shall engender the formulation of a report that must in turn be submitted to the DOE to underpin its development of policies and to have it integrated in the Philippine Energy Plan.
The report must contain the summary of findings; key recommendations for gaps; issues; non-compliance; opportunities for improvement; scope of work and performance summary.
