By
Lenie Lectura - June 10, 2018
THE National Grid Corp.
of the Philippines (NGCP) has formed a team to work on the P51.6-billion
Mindanao-Visayas Interconnection Project (MVIP), which aims to connect the
Mindanao grid to the Visayas grid by the year 2020.
“To oversee the
project’s implementation and ensure its successful completion despite difficulties
and challenges which may arise, the NGCP management handpicked several
employees to form the MVIP Team, consisting of Technical and Support teams,
dedicated to work together for the project,” the NGCP said last week.
During the MVIP launch
where the project team was formally presented and recognized, NGCP President
and CEO Anthony L. Almeda encouraged cooperation in order to complete the
project.
“We acknowledge the
work and efforts of the MVIP team, whose efforts have made possible the
progress of this major interconnection project. We also hope that, with the
full and active support of everyone, we can move forward and be assured of the
project’s on-time, if not advanced, implementation,” he said.
The MVIP’s scope and
magnitude will directly affect 35 local government units across four provinces
in the Visayas and Mindanao. Once the MVIP is completed in 2020, the
Philippines is closer to having a reliable transmission network that can
sustain the energy demand across the country.
“This landmark project
will boost investments, infrastructure and commerce, among others, as it stands
to bring about a more stable, sufficient and resilient power supply needed to
sustain the region, and in effect, the entire country’s socioeconomic progress.
Any energy-related obstacles will be resolved with the sharing and efficient
use of all grid-connected power sources, from as far as Ilocos in the north to
Davao in the south,” Almeda said.
An idea hatched by
NGCP’s predecessors as early as the 1980s, the MVIP project seeks to link the
entire Philippine transmission network, allowing the grid to become resilient
in the face of calamities and provide power to where it is needed the most.
Currently, the Visayas
is suffering from an energy shortage, while Mindanao is experiencing a surplus
of power brought about by the influx of new generating capacity in the island.
Putting the MVIP in
place reinforces the Mindanao transmission backbone, which is to be finished by
the first quarter of 2019. This backbone will allow NGCP to manage a
transmission network in Mindanao enough to maximize the MVIP’s full capacity.
Unifying the country’s transmission grid also fulfills one of the Philippines’s
commitments to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which envisions to
be a unified economic community in the next few years.
“The interconnection of
the Philippine transmission grid will allow us to participate in the
multilateral energy-trading activity within Southeast Asia as the Asean gears
up for economic integration later on,” Almeda said.
Submarine cables
spanning 184 circuit-kilometers and 526 circuit-kilometers of overhead lines
link the Visayas and Mindanao grids as designed in the MVIP. After conducting
several surveys, the transmission network operator proposed to link the islands
through Cebu and Zamboanga del Norte.
The three-month
hydrographic survey showed the route was the most viable due to generally low
to moderate gradients, avoiding areas where strong seawater currents are
exposed to rough, rocky seabed. Considering these factors, the submarine cables
of the MVIP are expected to last 20 years to 30 years with limited maintenance.
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