The Department of Energy (DOE) said Executive Secretary (ES) Lucas Bersamin will lead a meeting with the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) to discuss how the 60-day prescribed period may be implemented in terms of system impact studies (SIS) required for the development of power plants.
SIS are conducted to determine the effects of a proposed power project to customer connections in a grid and find out if certain adjustments in the system are needed.
DOE Secretary Raphael Lotilla told reporters on Tuesday the move is part of government efforts to operationalize the Energy Virtual One Stop Shop (EVOSS) which imposes timelines on the delivery of permits or the approval of permits related to energy projects by different agencies.
Before the enactment of EVOSS, there is no prescribed timeline for the completion of SIS but is now among the permits under the DOE that needs to be released within a 60-day prescribed period.
Lotilla said at present, SIS applications take 1.5 to 2 years to be processed especially for renewable energy developers.
“The Executive Secretary is chairing this one… We will be looking at how the transmission concessionaire, NGCP, is going to specify the 60-day requirement for approval of just the SIS,” Lotilla said.
“That’s why the ES as chair has scheduled for the next meeting of the EVOSS steering committee to deal with this issue on the system impact study. There are other jurisdictions that have adopted other approaches,” Lotilla said.
He cited examples like making all the data needed for an SIS public and the use of artificial intelligence and information and communication technology.
Lotilla said NGCP will be asked how it is currently computing the 60-day period for the SIS approval.
