MANILA, Philippines—The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines, operator of the country’s electricity superhighway, is investing P12 billion for 2013 alone to fund the construction and installation of critical transmission and substation projects across the country.
NGCP spokesperson Cynthia Alabanza confirmed the group’s planned capital spending, noting that this was the amount approved by the Energy Regulatory Commission under the third regulatory period, which covered the years 2011 to 2015.
This P12 billion capital expenditure budget—which was slightly lower than the P14.3 billion that was earmarked for last year—formed part of the P48-billion planned spending for the whole third regulatory period, meant to further improve the efficiency and reliability of the country’s transmission network.
Based on the draft 2012 Transmission Development Plan, the NGCP is focusing on three major issues, namely, major grid expansions and interconnections; renewable energy development; and the Mindanao power situation.
NGCP president and CEO Henry Sy Jr., in the NGCP document, said that major grid interconnections are meant for “augmentation and strengthening of transmission capacity to support a unified grid.”
Among those projects are the Batangas-Mindoro Interconnection (submitted for approval of ERC), Leyte-Mindanao Interconnection (currently undergoing feasibility study) and the Cebu-Negros-Panay Interconnection, he said.
“Renewable energy represents a new development that NGCP must plan the grid around. With the recent release of Feed-In Tariff (FIT) rates by ERC, NGCP anticipates the bulk entry of RE plants in the coming years. Adequate transmission facilities should be provided to cater to huge RE power generation potentials in the region. Looping in northern Luzon is being proposed to accommodate the wind farms’ entry into the Luzon grid,” Sy explained.
“Lastly, NGCP’s contribution to the Mindanao power situation is through the acceleration of the completion of projects in the region. These will strengthen the existing transmission system and ensure the stability, efficiency and reliability of power transmission in the entire Mindanao grid,” he further noted.
The NGCP had taken over in 2009 the state-run National Transmission Corp. concession, under which it had agreed to construct, install, finance, manage, improve, expand, operate, maintain, rehabilitate, repair and refurbish the Transco’s transmission assets.
Under the concession agreement, NGCP is mandated to provide open and nondiscriminatory access to its transmission system to all electricity users and accordingly, assess and collect transmission charges subject to the approval of the ERC.
The NGCP currently operates and maintains roughly 20,000 circuit-kilometers of transmission lines and substations with a combined capacity of over 23,000 megavolt amperes.