NGCP allots P12.41 B for transmission projects

By Danessa Rivera (The Philippine Star) | Updated October 30, 2017 - 12:00am

http://www.philstar.com/business/2017/10/30/1753676/ngcp-allots-p12.41-b-transmission-projects

MANILA, Philippines — The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) is earmarking P12.41 billion to put up new transmission projects to support the increasing demand for electricity in Bohol and Boracay as well as improve the reliability of the electrical system of the Visayas grid.

NGCP is seeking the approval of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) for the Cebu-Bohol 230-kilovolt (kv) Interconnection Project and the Nabas-Caticlan-Boracay Transmission Line Project.

The Cebu-Bohol project is estimated to cost P8.14 billion and will take 50 months to construct. A budget of P4.27 billion is allocated for the Nabas-Caticlan-Boracay project, which will take 35 months to build.

“A system collapse is imminent and will be experienced as early as 2021 if the projects are not undertaken. It must be emphasized that the implementation periods of the projects are 50 and 35 months for the Cebu- Bohol and Nabas-Caticlan-Boracay, respectively. Thus, it is necessary for us to immediately commence the implementation of the proposed projects,” NGCP said.

In its application, NGCP said the Cebu, Leyte and Bohol islands are interconnected through the Cebu-Leyte 230-kv and Leyte-Bohol 138-kv submarine cables, with the latter having a capacity of only 90 megawatts (MW).

“To avoid the expected overloading of the Leyte-Bohol submarine cable, NGCP proposes to interconnect the Cebu and Bohol Islands through a 230 kV submarine cable,” it said.

Bohol gets its power supply from Leyte since the several hydro and oil-based power plants in the island are not enough to meet its power requirements.

The grid operator said that by 2020, Bohol’s demand would reach 89 MW which would further increase to 95 MW by 2021. This will put pressure on the existing submarine cable between the two islands.

“With the interconnection, the overloading of Leyte-Bohol 138 kv submarine cable will be avoided, and will provide the Bohol Island with another source of power coming from Cebu,” NGCP said.

Meanwhile, NGCP said power demand in Boracay would exceed the capacities of existing transmission facilities serving the island.

Boracay is being served by the Nabas Substation through the single-circuit Nabas- Caticlan-Boracay 69-kv overhead line and submarine cable system.

Power demand in Boracay has already exceeded the capacity of the existing transformer in Manoc-manoc load-end substation this year and will exceed the capacity of the Caticlan-Boracay 69-kv submarine cable by 2018.

“The same simulation also clearly shows that by 2021, the cumulative demand of the load-end substations in Caticlan and Boracay will exceed the capacity of the 69-kv line from Nabas Substation which will result to system collapse,” NGCP said.