Completion of the Mindanao-Visayas Interconnection Project (MVIP) is targeted by the first quarter of 2022 pending agreements with landowners, according to the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP).
Anthony Almeda, NGCP president and chief executive officer, said in a Congressional hearing on Friday the company is finalizing talks with “one or two (land)owners” to secure their consent.
“…everything is already there… The lines are there, even our substations are all over already from one side to another,” Almeda said, adding NGCP is asking the help of people from Mindanao to help in settling right-of-way issues for the project.
NGCP earlier hinted the possibility of a delay in the completion of MVIP from the target of December 2021 after several portions of the project’s fiber optic cable connection were found damaged affecting submarine cable no.1 portion of the Dapitan-Santander 350 kilovolt high voltage direct current (HVDC) line between Dapitan, Zamboanga del Norte and Santander, Cebu.
The MVIP was certified as an Energy Project of National Significance in 2018 and was initially targeted for completion by December 2020 but was extended to December 2021 due to the pandemic and subsequent quarantine restrictions across the country.
Upon completion, the MVIP will connect the Visayas and Mindanao grids through the HVDC system with a 450 megawatts initial capacity.
The project covers 184 circuit kilometers (ckm) of submarine cables and 526 ckm of overhead wires.
