The National Electrification Administration (NEA) has launched on Thursday, 04 July 2024, its National Command Center (NCC), marking a significant innovation in terms of monitoring and managing the operations of the 121 electric cooperatives (ECs) nationwide.

Administrator Antonio Mariano Almeda led the inauguration of this new facility located at the ground floor of the NEA building in Quezon City. The NCC is one of his flagship projects with the end goal of optimizing the technical and operational performance of ECs across the country.

“Rural Electrification is not anymore limited to simply extending distribution lines to households, but now also includes establishing systems for resiliency and energy security,” Administrator Almeda said at the launch ceremony.

“It has thus been our thrust to take advantage of technology to not only meet these goals, but more importantly to encourage a culture of modernization and progress to being globally competitive,” added the NEA chief.

Project development for the NCC began in 2022 to set up the digital communications technology framework that would enable real-time monitoring and data-driven intervention mechanisms to address major electricity distribution issues on the ground.

The system ensures a more timely and efficient approach for NEA and the ECs, enabling them to inspect, assess and respond to the situation quickly in cases of power outages due to operational issues or natural and man-made disasters.

The NCC collects and incorporates relevant data from the ECs’ Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) and Geographical Information Systems (GIS), among other sources of information which includes NEA’s internal systems.

The collected information is processed and presented with actionable insights and analytics, allowing all concerned units to deliver incident management reports and come up with appropriate solutions. The NCC is intended to eventually support predictive analytics and AI.

The Pilot ECs who have connected their respective systems to the NCC are Benguet Electric Cooperative, Inc. (BENECO), Cebu III Electric Cooperative, Inc. (CEBECO III), and Misamis Oriental – 1 Rural Electric Service Cooperative (MORESCO 1), which already have existing SCADA systems.

The launch of the NCC underscores NEA’s commitment to enhancing the efficiency and reliability of the ECs’ power distribution services. This innovative platform is set to revolutionize how rural electrification workers manage and respond to the dynamic challenges of energy distribution.###