The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) energized the 230-kiloVolt (kV) Cebu-Bohol Interconnection meant to provide more resiliency for the Bohol grid and improve the operational flexibility of the Cebu transmission system.
The company in a statement on Tuesday said the project was filed with the Energy Regulatory Commission in 2017 and subsequently refiled in 2019 to update the components and cost but was only given provisional approval on Jan. 9, 2022 with a cost of P19.76 billion.
“The Cebu-Bohol Interconnection Project (CBIP) will play a crucial role in improving transmission services and grid stability in Central Visayas. It will also help improve the transmission highway in Cebu, the load center of Visayas, with a new line to transmit power in and out of the province,” NGCP said.
The CBIP, with a total capacity of 1,200 megawatts, is a new transmission facility that involves connections in Argao, Cebu and Maribojoc, Bohol via 54.6 circuit-kilometers of submarine cables crossing the Bohol Strait and 97.6 circuit-kilometers of transmission lines. The facility comprises 179 overhead towers from Argao to the Dumanjug substation in Cebu and from Maribojoc to the Corella substation in Bohol.
The line will help provide contingency in the province in the event of an outage of the existing Leyte-Bohol line.
“The CBIP is part of a long-term plan to provide a 230kV loop covering Leyte, Cebu and Bohol.
With its completion, the CBIP will now provide a new transmission corridor, thereby improving grid stability, security and reliability for everyone’s benefit,” the company added.
NGCP said while there were some difficulties with permitting from local government units and several landowners in terms of right-of-way acquisition, the support and cooperation of both national and local government agencies and stakeholders were vital to expediting the project’s completion and energization.
“Through proper support from the government, timely permitting process and industry-centric policies, we can achieve more to ensure a stable and resilient network that will greatly benefit our nation,” NGCP said.
