P36-b transmission project eyed

Manila Standard Today
by Alena Mae S. Flores


National Grid Corporation of the Philippines is mulling over the construction of a P36-billion power transmission project that will ensure the stability and reliability of power supply in Visayas.


National Grid deputy department manager Giovanni Galang, however, said the company was still seeking guidance from the Energy Department whether to pursue the P36-billion Cebu-Negros-Panay 230kV backbone or the P2.8-billion Negros-Panay Interconnection Uprating project due to cost considerations.


Galang said they were scheduled to meet with energy officials and other industry stakeholders next week regarding the need for the said transmission project to handle the load growth of the Visayas grid.


He said they needed to determine if there is sufficient power supply in Negros and Panay and whether there is a need to export power from Cebu to increase capacity in the Visayas.


“So instead of just installing it, we can extend it [transmission line] eastward to Cebu,” Galang said, noting that the project cost is also a big factor in deciding which project to pursue.


He said National Grid can pursue the second phase of the existing Negros-Panay interconnection project that allows export of excess power from Panay to Negros and vice versa.


Excess power supply in Panay was brought about by the significant capacity additions in the island. Notable capacity additions are the entry of the first unit of Concepcion coal-fired power plant with 100-megawatt capacity by 2014 and the expansion of the Panay Energy Development Corp.’s coal-fired power plant that involves the installation of a third generating unit with 82 MW capacity by 2015.


Based on the Power Development Program of the Energy Department, the total capacity addition in Panay for the period 2011-2016 is about 420 MW.


Phase two of the Negros-Panay Uprating project involves the installation of a second circuit submarine cable between Negros and Panay as well as the second circuit overhead line from E. B. Magalona CTS to Bacolod Substation.


(Published in the Manila Standard Today newspaper on /2012/february/23.)