NGCP pins Mindanao power hopes on crucial P24-B project

The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines expects to complete by the end of this month the feasibility study for the crucial P24-billion Leyte-Mindanao Interconnection Project which may help boost the power supply in electricity-starved Mindanao.

Results of the two-month P92-million feasibility study by China Research Institute will update the technical study conducted by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) for the state-run National Power Corp. in 2001.

Joseph Ferdinand Dechavez, senior adviser to the NGCP president, said the private transmission operator was keen on pursuing this project and even offered to frontload the funding requirements for the project, with the approval of the Energy Regulatory Commission. With the feasibility study almost completed, NGCP is looking to proceed with the second phase of the project, which is the actual implementation.

The interconnection project will include the establishment of a 250-kilovolt high-voltage density cable bipolar link with a total transfer capacity of 500 megawatts (MW), as well as a 455-kilometer long overhead line and 23-kilometer submarine cable. It will start at the Ormoc Converter station in Leyte and end at the Kirahon Converter station in Northcentral Mindanao via Southern Leyte and Northeastern Mindanao.

It may take up to seven years to complete the LMIP should regulators allow NGCP to proceed with it, he added.

The LMIP has long been considered a crucial project because it will finally connect all the three main power grids. Currently, only Luzon and Visayas are interconnected, allowing for the export of power between the two grids.

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