Major NGCP projects worth P56B underway

The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines has set the ball rolling for two major projects with a combined worth of about P56 billion, including a subsea link that will unify the Philippine power transmission network.

NGCP said it broke ground on Friday for the $1.2-billion Mindanao-Visayas interconnection project (MVIP), particularly the facility’s cable terminal stations in Santander, Cebu, and in Dapitan, Zamboanga del Norte.

The MVIP, which is scheduled to be online in 2020, will enable the transmission of electricity between the country’s three main island groups.

The Energy Regulatory Commission in 2017 gave the go-signal for the NGCP to start the MVIP with an indicative cost of P51.7 billion, which may change as the project unravels and through further perusal of regulators.

This was a long-delayed follow-up to the linkup of the Luzon and Visayas grids, which was accomplished 20 years ago in 1998.

Once completed, the MVIP will allow the transmission of up to 450 megawatts at a time.

Also, NGCP has geared up to reinforce its power transmission services in Aklan—currently being serviced by a single 69-kilovolt transmission line—with the construction of its Nabas-Caticlan-Boracay 138-kv transmission line project.

The new line—which the ERC approved at a cost P4.27 billion—will traverse through the town of Nabas and Malay, and is expected to be completed by March 2021.

Citing an outlook from Aklan Electric Cooperative, the grid operator said Boracay Island was projected to see continuous growth in power consumption and so an additional transmission line must be built to secure the stability and continuous supply.

The project involves the construction of a new 138-kv submarine cable between Caticlan and Boracay, an underground 69-kv line to Manoc-manoc, and another 138-kv transmission line from Caticlan to Nabas.

Also, NGCP said it would simultaneously upgrade its Nabas and Boracay substations to accommodate the increase in power capacity.