DOE to tighten rules on power firms amid grid alerts in VisMin

Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Sharon Garin is set to impose stricter rules on power generation companies (GenCos), including the possible cancellation of permits for repeated violations, following successive Red and Yellow Alerts in the country’s power grids in Visayas and Mindanao.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Garin announced four directives to strengthen GenCos’ accountability throughout the life cycle of their power plants: reviews of engineering standards, technical audits of existing facilities, assessments of government permits and contracts, and the development of sanctions and blacklisting rules for repeat offenders.

Garin said the DOE is pushing for “more discipline and accountability” among power producers as some facilities remain unavailable for extended periods and affect the country’s power supply.

“We have good power plants but we have really bad power plants. Iba diyan kalahating taon nawawala sila. It’s part of what energy makes us. Sana kung gumana lang ‘yan, okay tayo. Pero if not, affected ang buong bansa. We want more discipline and accountability in the power plants of GenCos,” Garin said in an interview with ANC.

Under the proposed guidelines, power companies could receive warnings depending on the severity of their violations, with a third warning potentially resulting in the cancellation of their operating permits.

“Kapag hindi ka nakapag-perform, ibigay na lang namin ang license sa mga nakaka-perform,” Garin said, adding that the DOE expects to issue the guidelines within a month.

The DOE’s planned measures were announced as the Visayas and Mindanao grids were placed under Red Alert on Tuesday, amid power plant outages and high electricity demand.

The Visayas grid was placed under Red Alert from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m., while the Mindanao grid was under Red Alert from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. and again from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. amid high electricity demand and limited supply.

The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) attributed the Visayas alert to outages at major coal-fired power plants and the tripping of the Daanglungsod-CalongCalong 138-kV L1 and Daanglungsod-Magdugo 138-kV L1 transmission lines.

The two transmission lines resumed operations at 4:17 p.m., restoring connections to the affected power facilities, according to NGCP.