July 5, 2018 | 9:17 pm
NATIONAL GRID
Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) is targeting a unified nationwide grid by
2020 through the nearly P52-billion Mindanao-Visayas interconection project
(MVIP), it said on Thursday.
“With One Grid 2020, we
envision a strong, unified power transmission network that can meet the
country’s future power needs,” said NGCP in a statement.
The privately owned
company’s target completion year is ahead of the timeline it announced in
September when it projected a 46-month period for the project. The project’s
estimated cost is P51.6967 billion.
NGCP was granted
provisional authority to implement the project in an order from the Energy
Regulatory Commission (ERC) on July 11, 2017.
“With a unified
national grid, power transmission services in the country will be more reliable
as there will be less power interruptions nationwide due to the sharing of
local energy resources. Reliable electricity transmission, in turn, could help
boost investments, infrastructure development, and commerce in the country,”
said NGCP.
NGCP said after five
years of research and planning, the ERC had authorized the grid operator to
start building MVIP in 2017, with the project set to be completed by December
2020.
The country harnesses
most of its electricity from the interconnected Luzon and Visayas grids, which
were linked in 1998 and uses a high-voltage direct current (HVDC) system with a
440-megawatt (MW) capacity.
“Once the MVIP is
complete by 2020, it will be using an HVDC system with a 450-MW initial
capacity,” NGCP said.
The company said MVIP
will use 184 circuit-kilometers of submarine cable, plus 526 circuit-kilometers
of overhead wires, to connect Dapitan, Zamboanga del Norte to Santander, Cebu
using HVDC submarine cable, which will transmit energy efficiently between
Visayas and Mindanao with minimal loss.
“This will support the
national government’s vision to interconnect the major power grids, which would
then help improve the overall power supply security of the country through the
sharing of reserves,” NGCP said.
“This will also support
the overall operations of the Philippine electricity market by allowing the
optimization of all available energy sources, including the additional
generation capacities that will be implemented in Visayas and Mindanao,” it
added.
The MVIP is the first
project to qualify as an energy project of national significance (EPNS) as
declared by the Department of Energy on May 8, 2018 under Executive Order No.
30.
As an EPNS, the
issuance of regulatory and documentary requirements by different local and
national government agencies will be expedited. — Victor V. Saulon
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