Mindanao power grid connected to rest of the country by 2018?

Business World Online

Posted on July 28, 2013 09:31:01 PM

THE NATIONAL GRID Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) plans to start construction of the long-planned $500-million Leyte-Mindanao Interconnection Project (LMIP) in 2016, officials said in a briefing at the firm’s headquarters in Quezon City last Friday.

“By the middle of next year, we hope to finish the feasibility study which includes a hydrographic survey. After that, we will file a petition with ERC (Energy Regulatory Commission) for implementation,” Joseph M. Dechavez, senior adviser to the NGCP president, told reporters when asked on the timetable for the project.

“Actual construction of the project will hopefully start by 2016 and completion is targeted by 2018.”

Mr. Dechavez said that before implementation, “pre-construction activities will be conducted, which will include getting bids for construction of the project.”

Asked on expenditure for the project, NGCP President and Chief Executive Officer Henry T. Sy, Jr. replied: “that’s about $500 million.”

Mr. Dechavez said the LMIP is intended to provide standby power to the Mindanao grid by linking it to the Visayas system. “Right now, what we’re doing is the hydrographic survey. The hydrographic survey is important for us to be able to come up with the actual design of the project.”

Mr. Sy added that the survey “will determine where the transmission lines and submarine cables will be passing through.”

“We’re looking at several options but the exact location will depend on the hydrographic survey,” he added.

During the launch of the Philippine Energy Plan 2012-2030 in December last year, the Energy department said the LMIP will link the Visayas and Mindanao grids through 23 kilometers of submarine cables from NGCP’s Leyte and Surigao substations. “While the interconnection between Luzon and Visayas via submarine cables has allowed the Luzon and Visayas grids to share excess electricity, the objective is to realize the ‘One Grid, One Nation’ goal by interconnecting also the Visayas and Mindanao,” Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho L. Petilla had said then.

Mindanao’s connection to the rest of the country has been cited as a solution to the island’s thin power supply, which NGCP estimated at a mere 53-megawatt reserve yesterday despite rains. Mindanao depends on hydropower plants to meet more than half its electricity needs. -- Claire-Ann Marie C. Feliciano   source