DOE keenly watching NGCP’s MVIP project

By Lenie Lectura - February 12, 2019

https://businessmirror.com.ph/2019/02/12/doe-keenly-watching-ngcps-mvip-project/

THE Department of Energy (DOE) is closely monitoring the progress of the multibillion peso Mindanao-Visayas Interconnection Project (MVIP) of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP).

“We are monitoring NGCP because they gave their own deadline that by December 2020, the MVIP will be completed. We want a more reliable and a more secured transmission system. The interconnection project will provide us a sense of security,” Energy Undersecretary Felix William B. Fuentebella said.

The NGCP project, regional transmission planning manager Christian Ereno said, is currently in the procurement stage.

“In parallel, we are continuing to secure the endorsement of the local government unit and the environmental permits. Right-of-way acquisition is also being conducted so that as soon as construction starts, it will not be interrupted,” Ereno said.

The MVIP is NGCP’s latest project that aims to connect the Mindanao grid to the Visayas grid, and 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, the NGCP said.

In November last year, the NGCP said it broke ground on the new cable terminal stations, which serve as a major component of the MVIP.

The cable terminal stations will be located in Santander, Cebu, and Dapitan City, Zamboanga del Norte. These will serve as the landing points of the two 92-kilometer submarine cables that will carry around 450 megawatts (MW) of power from the Visayas and Mindanao, and vice versa.

The NGCP assures the completion of the MVIP in 2020.

The MVIP, provisionally approved by the Energy Regulatory Commission in 2017, is considered the biggest power infrastructure project in the history of the country. Apart from the submarine cables and cable terminal stations, the P52-billion project also entails the installation of 526 circuit-kilometers of overhead transmission lines, high-voltage direct current converter stations and various upgrades to substations in both regions.

In May 2018, the DOE also certified the MVIP as an Energy Project of National Significance, in order to streamline and expedite the needed documents for the construction and completion of the project.

Since 2009, the NGCP has built 2,472 circuit-kilometers of transmission lines and 10,134 megavolt amperes of substation capacity.

The NGCP is a Filipino-led, privately owned company in charge of operating, maintaining and developing the country’s power grid, led by majority shareholders Henry Sy Jr. and Robert Coyiuto Jr.