Napocor, Transco set to boost power capacity

Published March 26, 2021, 6:00 AM by Chino S. Leyco
https://mb.com.ph/2021/03/26/napocor-transco-set-to-boost-power-capacity/

The National Power Corp. (Napocor) and the National Transmission Corp. (Transco) are planning to add more power capacity, transmission lines, and substation facilities this year to provide electricity to unserved households.

In a report to Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III, the two government-owned companies disclosed that they are targeting to add 45.31 megawatts of power capacity, and 71.3 circuit kilometers of transmission lines.

Napocor and Transco also plan to build 45 mega-volt-amphere (MVA) substation facilities in 2021.

For Napocor alone, the company said it will add 11 Small Power Utilities Group (SPUG) plants providing 24/7 electricity to unserved areas, as part of its missionary electrification project this year.

As of end-2020, Napocor said 1,080,242 households in missionary areas already have electricity while 473,845 remained unserved.

Despite the work suspensions as a result of several powerful typhoons and the COVID-19 pandemic, Napocor was able to surpass its 2020 target of providing electricity to unserved areas by 8,587 households for increase in operations and 2,433 households for new areas.

This year, Napocor plans to narrow this gap by providing electricity to 28,972 households, which will cut its backlog on unserved areas to 444,873 households.

Transco, meanwhile, targets to complete the power development plan (PDP) for the interconnection of unserved and underserved island municipalities this year.

It is expected to come up with the studies and plans that will provide the general framework for the interconnection, by the end of the year.

Its goal is to complete its PDPs for the Palawan island grid and implement the PDP for the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority this year.

As of September 2020, Transco’s current assets amounted to P10.59 billion, up by 20 percent from the previous year’s record of P8.83 billion.

It said its total assets—comprising receivables, trust assets, plants, and equipment—dropped 2.8 percent from P326.39 billion in 2019 to P325.31 billion in 2020.

Transco reported budgetary savings of P503.86 million in 2020, with the bulk of its unspent funds coming from unrealized capital expenditures of P360.12 million.

The firm collected P108.96 million in right-of-way-related capital expenditures last year and filed 76 expropriation cases.

Transco was also able to approve for settlement 49 claims related to expropriation issues.

This year, it said its goal is to file or settle 122 ROW cases and claims.

As of end-2020, Transco’s cash and investment balance amounted to P1.22 billion.

Preliminary data show that Transco has identified around P31.18 million from discontinued, deferred, or reduced programs and activities for COVID-18 related expenditures and disbursed P24.16 million of this amount.