Sunday, March 25, 2007 State power firm reports improved performance in 2006
THE National Transmission Corporation (Transco) has reported that the containment of power interruptions and service delivery was much better last year than in 2005.
Transco president Arthur Aguilar said their Sustained Average Interruption Frequency Index (Saifi) or the total number of times a customer experiences an power interruption in a year was placed at 0.52 percent customer interruptions in 2006 or an improvement of 36.6 percent from its target of 0.82 percent.
In 2003, it was 0.98. A lower Saifi means lesser number of times that a customer is out of power due to Transco-caused outages.
For the year 2006, Sustained Average Interruption Duration Index (Saidi) or the length of time in hours of power interruptions that a customer experiences in a year was at 0.40 hour or 18 percent better than the 0.49 hour target for the year. The 2003 Saidi level was 1.47 hours. This was reduced to just 0.49 hour by
2005.
A lower Saidi indicates that Transco is able to restore transmission service after a power interruption within a shorter time period, Aguilar said.
In terms of unserved energy, Transco also managed to consistently reduce undelivered electricity due to power interruptions every year since 2003. The 2003 level of 39.95 gigawatt-hours (GWh) was lowered to 27.47 GWh in 2004 and was further reduced to 18.22 GWh by 2005 and last year unserved energy was further cut to only 10.79 GWh, a 73 percent improvement from the 2003 level.
One GigaWatt-hour is equal to 1 million kiloWatt-hours.
The Saifi and Saidi indicators gauge the quality of power delivery to Transco customers in terms of the reliability of the transmission network. Less frequent and shorter power fluctuations or interruptions that hamper power customers’ activities translate to more reliable electricity service. Transco's improved service started when it was separated from the National Power Corporation (Napocor) in 2003.
With regard System Availability (SA) or the time that major components of the transmission system such as lines, breakers and transformers are available, Transco registered a high of 99 percent availability since 2003.
Aguilar attributed this good performance to the improving reliability of the grid through rehabilitation of transmission lines and substations, the addition of more lines and the upgrading of transmission capacities.
He added that the enhancement of maintenance and operating policies and practices; installation of parallel routes as well as isolators or disconnecting switches to sectionalize a long power line; re-allocation of spares, equipment, manpower and materials to parts of the power grid contributing to low system reliability; and the more efficient and reliable dispatch of bulk power by Transco’s System Operations Group was also help in their improved operations and delivery of service.
“Being a utility firm, we are aware of the rising expectations of our customers. We remain committed to continuously raise the bar of our performance,” said Aguilar. (MSN/Sunnex)
