The President’s men and women: DOE chief vows to stop blackouts

MANILA, Philippines – Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras vowed that his first order of business is to prevent power interruptions.

Almendras told reporters during the turnover ceremony at the Department of Energy last Monday that keeping the energy supply stable was the first challenge he encountered the day he took office on July 1.

He said the threat of rotating blackouts in Luzon and in other parts of the country will continue to hound him in the next six years if the necessary steps are not taken.

“We’re trying to address the challenge of electricity supply in Luzon brought about by some of the rehabilitation work in the San Jose facility. So far, there is still no blackout the whole day today (July 5). So we’re still okay,” he said.

The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) earlier announced that it will upgrade further its San Jose Transformer by replacing another 600-megavolt ampere (MVA) transformer (T01) with a new 750-MVA transformer at the site from July 4 to Aug. 4.

NGCP warned that the temporary shutdown and replacement of T01 would reduce the transfer capacity of the substation from 1,960 MVA to 1,540 MVA. However, power customers can still expect continuous service and no outages during the period with the full dispatch of the Malaya and Limay plants already committed by its operators Kepco and San Miguel, respectively.

The upgrade of Transformer T02 was completed on April 15 this year. T01’s upgrade right after T02 was deferred during the election period. System operator NGCP also deemed it best to implement the upgrade activities in July, a period typically with low system demand. After T01 is energized in August, T03 and T04 will be upgraded next.

Power customers in the Luzon power grid, especially in Metro Manila, are expected to benefit from the transformer upgrade program that would increase San Jose substation capacity from 2,400 MVA to 3,000 MVA.

Once the transformers are energized, power-generating plants in Luzon passing through the 500-kV transmission backbone will be able to resume full dispatch of electricity.

Almendras said he had called the attention of all concerned power stakeholders on this matter.

“I called for a meeting last Friday. Everyone was there: Meralco was there, Transco (National Transmission Corp.) was there, everybody was there, NGCP, PSALM (Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp.),” he said.

He said though there are still no indications of the possible impact of the rehabilitation of NGCP’s San Jose substation, he wants to get an assurance that everything will be in order while the rehabilitation program is being undertaken.

The new energy chief, however, admitted that the idea of a blackout-free country is still far-fetched.

“Not right now. I cannot promise that there will be no blackout. If there would be a major breakdown in one of the larger plants, there will have to be (blackouts),” he said.

On top of this, he said there are a lot of things that need to be attended to, like submissions of DOE’s position to Congress on ethanol production and the amendments to the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA).

Almendras is not new to running utility firms, one characteristic he can use in manning the energy sector.

Almendras was president of Manila Water Co. prior to accepting his post as Secretary of the Department of Energy.

He started his career at Citytrust Banking Corp. He later moved to Citibank as Account Management Group head in the Visayas in 1985.

The Aboitiz Group later hired Almendras as treasurer for both the Aboitiz Co. and Aboitiz Equity Ventures. He was eventually promoted to president of the group-owned City Savings Bank.

Almendras joined Ayala Land Inc. in 2001. He was appointed chief executive officer of Cebu Holdings Inc. and Cebu Property Ventures and Development Corp. He assumed the role of business group head for Ayala Land-Visayas/Mindanao and concurrently operations transformation group head of Ayala Land.

Almendras was appointed head of Manila Water Co. in 2007. –Donnabelle Gatdula (The Philippine Star)