The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) has completed four key major grid projects, which, it said, significantly improved the reliability of the country’s power infrastructure.
Among the projects completed last year were the Mindanao-Visayas Interconnection Project (MVIP), the Cebu-Negros-Panay 230-kiloVolt (kV) backbone, the Mariveles-Hermosa-San Jose 500kV line and the Cebu-Bohol Interconnection Project (CBIP), the NGCP said in a statement.
It said the Cebu-Bohol project played a crucial role in improving transmission services and grid stability in Central Visayas, which helped develop the transmission highway in Cebu, the load center of Visayas, through a new line that is designed to transmit power in and out of the province.
“These achievements reflect NGCP’s strong commitment to advancing our grid infrastructure to ensure a more stable and resilient power supply for households, businesses and industries,” the company said.
Aside from the completion of big-ticket projects, services also improved at a lower cost of P0.55 centavos per kilowatt hour, compared with P0.74 under the operations of the national grid by the National Transmission Corp. (TransCo), it said.
The amount is equivalent to just 3.39 percent of the electricity bill, while generation and distribution charges make up its bulk with 53.17 percent and 21.81 percent, respectively, it said.
Since the NGCP took over the transmission operations from TransCo in 2009, it said outages went down by 82 percent, reflecting the significant improvement in the efficiency and reliability of the country’s grid under its watch.
The company said more projects are underway as it intends to complete more projects in the coming years, including the New Antipolo 230kV Substation in Rizal, Laguindingan 230kV Substation in Misamis Oriental, and substation upgrading, voltage improvement, and reliability projects in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.
Other projects mentioned in the statement as being scheduled for completion, “barring any further right-of-way, permitting, and other external delays, were the Tuguegarao–Lal-lo (Magapit) 230kV Transmission Line, Ambuklao-Binga-San Manuel 230kV Line, Western Luzon 500kV Backbone Stage 2, Marilao Extra High Voltage Substation, Tuy 500/230 kV Project Stage 1, Nabas-Caticlan-Boracay 138kV Line, Cebu-Lapu Lapu 230kV Transmission Line, Lapu Lapu 230kV Substation Project, Tacurong-Kalamansig 69 kV Transmission Line Project, and other upgrading projects.
“Despite challenges being encountered in right-of-way acquisition and permitting, with the support of relevant government agencies, we are optimistic that we are on track to finish these projects in the pipeline,” NGCP said.
The transmission grid operator also renewed its appeal for the swift resolution and approval of applications filed with the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), which affects the company’s operations.
As a highly regulated entity, the NGCP said it needs the ERC’s approval to implement its projects and to recover the costs spent in building these transmission facilities.
“We remain hopeful that the ERC will support our efforts by ensuring a timely and fair recovery for our capital expenditure. This recovery is vital to sustaining our investment in enhancing the reliability and capacity of our energy infrastructure,” the company said.
