NGCP earmarks $500M for Leyte-Mindanao interconnection

National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), operator of the country’s transmission superhighway, is spending about $500 million for the Leyte Mindanao Interconnection Plan (LMIP), company officials told reporters.

Company president Henry Sy Jr. said the project was scheduled for completion by 2018. LMIP will link power-starved Mindanao to the rest of the country’s electricity network  and enable NGCP to be in a position to meet the growing power demand on the island.

Currently, only the Luzon and Visayas grids can supply power to each other.

Also, the LMIP will enable the Philippines to become part of the much larger Asean grid via the Sabah-Philippines grid interconnection.

The company, Sy said, was studying where lines would be set up. Called the hydrographic survey, this study is important for NGCP to be able to come up with the project design.

Joseph Ferdinand Dechavez, senior adviser to the NGCP president, said the hydrographic survey was expected to be finished by the middle of 2014. After this and with the Energy Regulatory Commission’s approval, NGCP could already start implementing the rest of the $500-million project.

Actual construction may start in 2016, Dechavez said.

“We’re not just talking about installing a submarine cable, we’re talking about a very long overhead transmission line from both ends. The longer transmission line will be from Surigao going to Cagayan. The total is more than 400 kilometers of transmission lines,” Dechavez said.

LMIP is a three-decade-old government project seen to greatly boost power supply in Mindanao. Sy said the company’s intention was to move the project forward starting the current regulatory period (2011 to 2015).