As instituting reliability improvements are very much needed in the country’s transmission system, concessionaire National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) noted that it is working on cutting off bureaucratic procedures so it can move faster into implementing critical projects.

NGCP president and chief executive officer Walter W. Brown said the company tries “to be more flexible and responsive, especially when it comes to serving and addressing the concerns of customers.”

One of the key areas they have been trying to address would be to proceed immediately with projects – by shortening the period of approvals and the procurement of equipment to operate and maintain the transmission network much faster.

“NGCP is cutting off bureaucratic procedures without compromising the necessary controls. Like any private corporation, we have to earn profits but at the same time, we are very much conscious of the fact that we are providing a public service,” Brown noted.

The latest endeavor by the power utility had been the repair works at the San Jose substation, replacing a 200-MVA (megavolt-ampere) transformer with a spare unit undertaken last August 29.

The company vouched that since the repair works were done during off-peak power demand hours, “no power customers were affected by the said shutdown.”

It stressed that the replacement of the said transformer was necessary to prevent equipment breakdown, which in the end may trigger bigger problems in the power system. The substation is a critical component of the Luzon grid since this is a crucial link to the supply being wheeled to Manila Electric Company’s (Meralco) network.

Apart from the equipment replacement, NGCP is also taking on added precautionary measures by checking on the sudden increase in dissolved fault gas levels at the facility.

“The Bucholz relay, a safety device mounted on the transformer, was not activated, indicating that the gas and pressure readings have not reached critical levels,” NGCP said.

Nevertheless, the company assured that it has been conducting dissolved gas analysis (DGA) on its substation transformers nationwide to assess whether the equipment are still safe and in good working condition.

“As part of NGCP’s continuing efforts to upgrade its facilities, 13 new 250-MVA single-phase units (or four 750-MVA banks with one 250-MVA spare unit) of upgraded transformers for the San Jose substation are expected to be delivered and energized by February 2010,” the company emphasized.

It explained that the transformers are not readily available, “out-of-shelf” items and were custom-made for NGCP’s specific use.

Albeit the company indicated that it already asked supplier to deliver at least one bank (equivalent to 3 units) of transformers earlier than the target date to ensure power reliability and security of the Luzon grid.