NextGen Day

MANILA, Philippines — Under the Duterte administration, the National Power Corp. (Napocor) expanded capacity expansions in missionary or off-grid areas from 13.66 megawatts (MW) in 2016 to 88.53 MW in December 2021, or more than sixfold.

According to Napocor officer-in-charge (OIC) senior vice president and chief operating officer Melchor Ridulme, the company has added 321.5 circuit kilometers (ckt. km) of transmission lines in missionary areas, up from 776.03 ckt. km in 2016. This brings the total number of transmission lines in missionary areas to 1,097.6 ckt. km as of December 2021.

Napocor also boosted the transformer capacity of its substations serving missionary areas from 170 megavolt amperes (MVA) in 2016 to 215 MVA by December 2021, according to its report to Finance Secretary and Napocor Board chairman Carlos Dominguez III.

By June 2022, the Napocor aims to increase capacity expansions in missionary areas to 106.58 megawatts and transmission lines to 1,125.46 circuit kilometers, as well as increase substation capacity to 225 megawatts, according to Ridulme’s report.

According to Ridulme, Napocor currently operates 285 Small Power Utilities Group (SPUG) units around the country in 229 missionary districts.

By June of this year, the Napocor plans to increase the number of SPUG plants to 296 and expand its coverage to 240 missionary locations, he said.

According to Ridulme, Napocor currently has 82 SPUG plants functioning around the clock, up from 41 SPUG plants operating 24 hours in 2016.

The Napocor is also involved in the replanting of watershed open spaces in order to ensure the long-term operation of hydro and geothermal plants in the main grids.

Napocor has increased its replanting in watershed open spaces from 1,881 hectares (has.) in 2016 to 4,419 has. as of December last year, he said.

Napocor is responsible for supplying power generation and associated power distribution systems in areas that are not connected to the transmission system under Republic Act 9136, or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA).

Missionary electrification projects are funded through sales in missionary areas as well as the universal charge (UC), which is levied on all power end-users.

Meanwhile, the National Transmission Corp. (Transco) told Dominguez that it has continued to safeguard the national government’s interests by ensuring that the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) follows the terms and conditions of its concession agreement as well as the Department of Energy’s policies (DOE).

This was accomplished, according to Transco president-chief executive officer Jainal Abidin Bahjin II, by conducting 85 asset inspections and four project inspections on NGCP and completing the Technical, Regulatory, Financial, and Legal Compliance Assessment Team (TRFLAT) assessment report on NGCP’s compliance with the concession agreement last year.

Because of the pandemic’s mobility constraints, the majority of these inspections were “remote” or virtual inspections.

Transco has halted conducting remote inspections of NGCP’s facilities as of March 22, according to Bahjin, and will begin on-site inspections.

The EPIRA required Transco to be privatized either through outright sale or a management concession deal.

The NGCP was awarded the concession in 2007, and through RA 9511, it was eventually granted a congressional franchise to run the transmission network.

However, Transco retains ownership of all transmission assets.

Transco also verified 173 right-of-way (ROW) claims last year, according to Bahjin, and either filed expropriation lawsuits or approved 122 ROW claims for a settlement involving its transmission lines and substations.

Transco worked with the Land Registration Authority (LRA) to resolve ROW claims in properties within its transmission corridor under its previous president, currently Cabinet Secretary Melvin Matibag. (

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