NGCP says no instance of remote access to grid
THE National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) said Wednesday that there was no cause for alarm over Chinese involvement in the power distribution system, noting that the grid’s controls have never been accessed remotely since the company’s founding.
“There is nothing to be alarmed about the stake by the State Grid Corp. of China (SGCC) in NGCP as its investment is limited only to being a technical adviser,” Anthony L. Almeda, NGCP president and chief executive officer, said in a statement.
Legislators have raised concerns that China has the ability to shut down the Philippines’ power grid, and have called for an investigation into the ownership of NGCP.
In its statement, NGCP said State Grid has a 40% stake in NGCP, but the controlling 60% belongs to Filipino companies Monte Oro Grid Resources Corp. and Calaca High Power Corp. with 30% shares each.
As such, State Grid has only three nominees to the NGCP board, in proportion to its ownership level, it added.
“State Grid serves only as the technical adviser of the consortium, but the management and the control of NGCP, including its Systems Operation, are exclusively exercised by Filipinos,” Mr. Almeda said.
He said the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA), the system that controls the grid, is operated only by authorized Filipino technical experts of NGCP.
“By default, SCADA is disconnected from the Virtual Private Network (VPN); thus, remote users cannot connect to SCADA,” he said, adding that “VPN access may only be granted to the Filipino CEO in an emergency situation and only after undergoing a secure and confidential approval process.”
NGCP said since its operations started in 2009, the approval process for VPN access has not been invoked and no remote access has been granted.
Mr. Almeda said NGCP’s systems operation data center has biometric access controls that allow only its authorized personnel to enter. He also said the SCADA workstations and servers are secured by firewalls and layers of authentication systems to block unauthorized access.
He invited legislators to visit NGCP’s facilities to see how the power grid is managed and operated.
“We are happy to welcome our senators and congressmen as well as an independent third party to visit our facilities in order to dispel any security concerns that had been raised these past few days,” Mr. Almeda said.
He said Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi inspected the NGCP facilities in August 2017. He added legislators during the previous administration had visited the same facilities.
Mr. Almeda said NGCP has not entered into other businesses, other than those permitted under its concession agreement.
Telecommunication companies use NGCP facilities through co-location agreements, the company said. These deals allow a third party to “piggy-back” on its right-of-way or existing facilities but this does not involve tapping into or using the transmission service provider’s fiber optic cables, it said.
“NGCP declares all earnings from related businesses and uses the same to lower transmission rates in full compliance with the provisions of EPIRA and Concession Agreement,” Mr. Almeda said. — Victor V. Saulon
