MANILA — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said the government is reviewing the performance of the country’s power grid operator amid delays in delivering important projects.

During his second State of the Nation Address, Marcos said that the country now has a unified national grid with the interconnection of the Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao grids.

He added, however, that even though this enables more efficient transfers and competitive pricing of electricity in the country, 68 grid connections are "delayed according to the ERC's (Energy Regulatory Commission) account."

"We are conducting a performance review of our private concessionaire — the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP). We look to NGCP to complete all of its deliverables starting with a vital Mindanao-Visayas and Cebu-Negros-Panay interconnections."

The ERC earlier ordered the NGCP to explain why it should not face any administrative penalty for the project delays. The company meanwhile said the delays were caused by COVID-19 pandemic restrictions and right-of-way issues.

RENEWABLE ENERGY
Marcos said the country is focusing more on renewable energy as it aims to achieve a 35-percent renewable energy share in the power mix by 2030 and a 50-percent share by 2040.

To achieve this goal, Marcos said renewable energy projects have been opened to foreign investments.

"Since last year, an additional 126 renewable energy contracts with the potential capacity of 31,000 megawatts have been awarded," the president said in his second State of the Nation Address.

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"To date, we have over a thousand active projects spread all over the country, 299 of these are solar, 187 are wind, 436 are hydroelectric, 58 biomass, 36 geothermal, and nine are ocean-powered."

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Marcos also credited the Malampaya project as a "boon to our country," saying that it has energized 20 percent of Luzon and its contract renewal "guarantees continued revenues in energy production for another 15 years."

The project was originally supposed to expire by Feb. 22 next year until Marcos renewed its contract and is now set to expire on Feb. 22, 2039.

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"The national government has also partnered with BARMM (Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao) in regard to energy exploration and development and also its utilization within its territorial jurisdiction," he said.

The president said that with this partnership, his administration is expecting to see renewed investor interest in BARMM's "promising sites."

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