Grid link to soothe Mindanao power woes

Business World Online

Posted on September 03, 2013 09:35:10 PM

DAVAO CITY -- The approval and implementation of the proposed transmission backbone and interconnection projects of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) is expected to improve power supply in Mindanao.

The National Grid Corp. headquarters on Quezon Avenue in Quezon City. -- Jonathan L. Cellona

“We are pushing for the accelerated implementation of these projects as these will address major challenges to the country’s main transmission grids,” NGCP Corporate Communications Head Cynthia Perez-Alabanza said on Monday.

Fernando S. Javier, NGCP Mindanao systems planning division chief, said the transmission backbone project will include the Leyte-Mindanao interconnection to provide a 230-megavolt backbone to Mindanao through the construction of transmission lines in Lanao, Cagayan de Oro, Bukidnon and Bunawan (Agusan del Sur), among others.

Ms. Perez-Alabanza said that NGCP rolls out projects every five years, and once these are submitted to the Energy Regulatory Commission and approved, these will be implemented for the 2016-2021 period.

NGCP is now in the final stages of the Transmission Development Plan, a 10-year grid management plan closely coordinated with the Department of Energy’s (DoE) Power Development Plan.

Ms. Perez-Alabanza said that the DoE consolidates the power plant projects with NGCP because “even if you have too many power plants, there will still be no power if there are no transmission lines.”

Last month, Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla said that Mindanao will have not only enough but surplus power supply by 2015, with the construction of coal-fired power plants in various parts of Mindanao to supply the island with more than 500 megawatts (MW) of power by then.

Among the projects mentioned by Mr. Petilla are the 300-MW Therma South-owned coal power plant in Davao City, with 150-MW output available by 2014; the 200-MW power plant by Sarangani Energy Corp. in Maasim, Sarangani; and the 600-MW SMC Global Power Holdings Corp. project in Malita, Davao del Sur, with an initial 150-MW output by 2015.

“DoE is fastracking the power plant projects, and we are all working hard to ensure there is excess (power) to accommodate growth,” Ms. Perez-Alabanza also said.

Despite efforts to improve the reliability of transmission facilities, she said, NGCP is faced with challenges, including right-of-way issues, heavy loads on transmission lines, space limitations at the substations serving the main load centers and the need to construct new transmission lines and substations.

Ms. Perez-Alabanza admitted that the long power interruptions, which started on Sunday in certain areas of the island, are a cause for worry as they might be another security problem that NGCP has to contend with.

In a statement yesterday from the Philippine Information Agency, the NGCP spokeswoman also said that the grid firm currently has a memorandum of agreement with the police and the military to protect the power lines from pilferage.

Ms. Perez-Alabanza said that, in Mindanao, the NGCP has classified Abaga, Lanao del Norte -- Kirahon, San Martin, Villanueva, Misamis Oriental, Kirahon-Maramag, Bukidnon, Maramag-Bunawan, and Davao City as the critical power lines, since the bulk of electricity passes through these lines to distribution stations in the cities of Davao and General Santos.

The statement also stated that a transmission tower of the NGCP in Barangay Madia, Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao, was toppled Sunday by unidentified armed men with an improvised explosive device.

The military said that the explosion felled Tower 168 at 9:00 p.m. on Sunday, causing a total blackout in Cotabato City and nearby areas, according to the statement. -- C.A. Carillo   source