National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) is completing several projects from 2013 onwards to address load growth in the Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao grids.
In a statement, NGCP said it had commissioned in May new capacitors in Magapit, Cagayan, to address the low voltage problem. NGCP is also adding capacity in the Tuguegarao Substation amid the entry of the new Lal-lo Airport and new developments in Port Irene.
Later this year, NGCP will implement the Colon-Cebu 138-kV Transmission to strengthen the transmission backbone in Cebu (the load center in the Visayas grid). NGCP said customers in Bohol and Panay, such as the Visayan Electric Co., Boheco I, Mactan Enerzone Corp., General Milling Corp. and Waterfront Hotel and Casino, were expected to benefit from the project.
In Mindanao, NGCP said the Balo-i-Villanueva-Maramag transmission project would complete the Mindanao 230-kV Transmission Backbone that linked northern and southern Mindanao. The second circuit of the Butuan-Placer 138-kV transmission project that will provide power supply to mining operations in northeastern Mindanao will also be implemented “soon,” NGCP said.
Come 2014, the Lumban-Bay 230-kV transmission line will be upgraded around June, providing an alternate highway to more than 2,000MW in capacity currently connected to the 230-kV system in Batangas. Once completed, the Calaca Substation will no longer be the single merging node in the area and grid disturbances in Luzon can be avoided, NGCP said.