by Myrna Velasco November 24, 2015
Transmission firm National Grid
Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) will seek fresh round of regulatory
approval on its proposed alternative route to link up Visayas and Mindanao
grids.
Department of Energy (DOE) acting
assistant secretary Patrick Aquino has stipulated that the new filing with the
Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) for a new feasibility study on
Negros-Zamboanga Interconnection Project (NZIP) is already being firmed up by
NGCP.
He stressed that the original plan
of Visayas-Mindanao transmission link-up via Leyte had some technical hurdles
because of the very deep trench that the project may traverse. Because of that,
it has been noted that the project may require trench plunge of as deep as 34
kilometers that could then bloat the project’s funding.
From a preliminary cost estimate of
P24-P25 billion, it was stipulated that the cost for Leyte-Mindanao
Interconnection Project (LMIP) may jack up to P34 billion.
The targeted completion of the LMIP
should have been 2018, but with the propounded new feasibility study, project
timeframes are also expected to move.
Both NZIP and LMIP have been
integrated in the Mindanao System Power Development Plan – so the transmission
operator could have its ready alternative on the planned grid link-up.
With the NZIP study, the NGCP will
have to evaluate the technical parameters of the two grids’ linkage as well as
re-assess the project’s cost.
The link-up of the Visayas power
system to Mindanao is seen as the last step to the country’s long term goal of
fully connecting all three major power grids.
Luzon and Visayas grids are already
interconnected and such set-up has been enabling the sharing of power
capacities – and had been seen beneficial especially during critical supply months
at either grids.
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