NGCP sets Leyte facility’s upgrade

Manila Bulletin 
By Myrna M. Velasco 
Published: May 21, 2013 
To reinforce the Leyte-Bohol interconnection and minimize power outages in the area, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) is pushing forward to the completion next year of a facility upgrade in Leyte.
The project, according to the company, has been earmarked a budget of P509.36 million, based on the approval of the Energy Regulatory Commission.
Based on the facility’s upgrade design, it will “reinforce the existing 138-kilovolt line from Ormoc, Leyte to Maasin, Southern Leyte by stringing another circuit into the facility with a 113.97-kilometer span.”
The construction of the facility is roughly 50-percent complete to date, according to the transmission firm.
“The Ormoc-Maasin 138-kV transmission line project included in NGCP’s 2012 Transmission Development Plant will be completed first quarter of 2014,” the company added.
Failing to put in the additional circuit, NGCP has qualified that “Southern Leyte and Bohol will be cut-off from the grid once the Ormoc-Maasin line experiences a power outage.”
NGCP has been striving to achieve N-1 contingency for its transmission facilities nationwide. Even with its pipelined facility upgrades and expansion, however, the company cannot still totally evade technical glitches which could adversely affect its operations.
The other component of the Visayas grid reinforcement project, NGCP said “is the upgrade of power circuit breakers and installation of corresponding accessories at Ormoc and Maasin substations.”
It further explained that “the Ormoc substation receives the power produced by the Leyte geothermal fields which is (sic) the dominant source of electricity of Samar and Bohol provinces.”
The transmission firm noted that the project is critical, mainly for the full dispatch of available supply in the grid and to meet the growing demand of Visayas.”   source