By Lenie Lectura - July 5, 2018
The P52-billion Mindanao-Visayas
Interconnection Project (MVIP) of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines
(NGCP) may result in an upward adjustment in transmission rates.
“Depending on the regulatory reset
by 2020, consumers might also notice the immediate effects of the project on
their electricity bills, as its completion will result in a price increase of
P0.03 per kilowatt-hour,” the NGCP said in a statement issued on Thursday.
The grid operator clarified,
however, that the amount is still subject to regulatory approval.
While the final cost of the project
has yet to be determined by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), the NGCP
has filed the estimated cost of the project to be at P52 billion.
“To date, the biggest part of the
MVIP is right-of-way access and acquisition, which we expect to secure by the
end of December 2018. Therefore, as early as now, we are reaching out to the
public, especially all national and local government units, to collaborate with
us for the successful completion of the MVIP to meet our goal of One Grid
2020,” the NGCP said.
The MVIP is NGCP’s latest project
that aims to connect the Mindanao grid to the Visayas grid, which will
ultimately lead to a single, unified national grid by the time of its
completion in 2020.
“With a unified national grid, power
transmission services in the country will be more reliable, as there will be
less power interruptions nationwide due to the sharing of local energy
resources. Reliable electricity transmission, in turn, could help boost
investments, infrastructure development and commerce in the country,” NGCP
said.
After five years of careful research
and planning, the ERC has authorized the NGCP to start building the MVIP in
2017, with the project set to be completed by December 2020.
Currently, the country harnesses
most of its electricity from the interconnected Luzon and Visayas grids, which
was linked in 1998 and uses a high-voltage direct current system with a
440-megawatt capacity. Once the MVIP is complete by 2020, it will be using
an HVDC system with a 450-MW initial capacity.
The MVIP will employ 184 circuit
kilometers of submarine cables, plus 526 circuit kilometers of overhead wires,
to connect Dapitan, Zamboanga del Norte, to Santander, Cebu, using HVDC
submarine cables, which will transmit energy efficiently between the Visayas
and Mindanao with minimal loss.
The completion of the MVIP will
result in a more stable and secure supply of power in the country, and will
maximize the use of available local energy resources.
“This will support the national
government’s vision to interconnect the major power grids, which would then
help improve the overall power-supply security of the country through the
sharing of reserves,” the NGCP said. “This will also support the overall
operations of the Philippine electricity market by allowing the optimization of
all available energy sources, including the additional generation capacities
that will be implemented in the Visayas and Mindanao,” it added.
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