MANILA, Philippines — The grid operator has moved to a later date the competitive selection process (CSP) for interested ancillary service providers that will supply reserves to the country's grids, around a week after issuing a call for bids.
Ancillary services (AS) are required to maintain the quality, reliability and security of the grid system.
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"Cognizant of the fact that several issues were raised by the prospective bidders for AS....and consistent with the policy of promoting competition in a transparent and non-discriminatory manner, all interested bidders are hereby advised that the conduct of Competitive Selection Process for AS has been moved to a later date," the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) said in an advisory posted on its website on Feb. 3.
The privately-led firm said it will issue advisories on the new timeline of the bidding.
There is more urgency to secure enough energy supply in time for this year's dry season to ensure that the national and local elections in May will not be interrupted by power outages.
Last week, NGCP invited grid-connected merchant plants and independent power producers to participate in the competitive bidding for the grid operator's procurement of AS for the Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao grids.
It added that the interested AS providers must be willing to provide power on a firm-based arrangement over five years, subject to a yearly performance evaluation.
The Department of Energy earlier scored NGCP for not having enough firm-contracted reserves as of end-2020, which went against to a department circular.
The Energy department later on ordered the transmission service provider to procure an adequate amount of reserves to ensure sufficient supply to tide over periods of power shortages.